Feather Strings HIATUS UNTIL IHWW is FINISHED
by CleCleisCool
Summary: Max and Fang don't interact at school.They have nothing in common, or so they thought.Little do they know,they share something big in commom; wings, and a past. As they learn about the past,a dangerous secret threatens their livesand the flock must escape
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**(I typed all four pages on my ipod. :^3)**

The first time I really met Fang -or at least I thought it was- was in the school office in the May of tenth grade.

I was sitting in class, horribly bored, my palm stuck to my left cheek. School was boring. Really boring, but a lot better than the 'school' I had come from before. More on that later. It's not important right now. Anyways, I was sitting there, bored beyond recognition, watching the clock tick and complaining about our English teacher on a note to my friend J.J.

'She makes me beyond mad,' I wrote furiously, my pen scratching the paper. 'She is always picking on me in class in her condescending nasal toot squeal voice!' I tapped on J.J.'s arm so she could take the note, but she was too busy ogling over Dylan, this kid in my class who had a crush on me forever. Everyone thought he was totally cute, J.J. included, and always asked me why I didn't want to go out with him. Why? Because my type was not try-too-hard popular jocks. We weren't even supposed to interact. He was popular, I wasn't, and glad about it.

"Miss Ride," came the condescending squeal of our English teacher's voice. "Would you like to share the note to the class?" I shook my head furiously. "Give me the note, Maximum."

My blood boiled. No one called me Maximum if they wanted to keep their heads on their shoulders.

"No way in hell." I told her and shoved the note in my mouth. The class laughed. It was small, so I chewed it up, and with a swig of water, swallowed it. The classes lauded louder yet again, and a chorus of 'oohhh's filled the classroom. "I'm sorry, that was rude." I told her in the sweetest voice I could muster. "Would you like to have the note to read?" I opened my mouth wide and mimicked shoving two fingers down my throat.

Her face paled at the thought of vomit. "Sit down and learn something. I know it may be hard for you, but in this classroom we do things my way." This was Standard Operating Procedure for her, Mrs. McKormic, and she gave this speech to any misbehaving student. "Now tell me three adjectives for school."

I pretended to think for a moment. "Oh! I know!" I Said cheerfully. "Uh, fascist shit hole!" I looked down at her appalled face and, probably against my better judgement, added "Oh, was that just two? Fascist shit hole... With sucky English teachers."

Before she even managed to tell me to go down to the office, I was already out the door and halfway there.

"Max?" Sighed one of the secretaries, Sharon. "it's only twenty minutes into first period. This has to be a new record for you." I wasn't exactly... Well suited to school, so I spend a lot of time in the office. And by a lot, I mean a lot. As in, I have a chair reserved for me (It even has a little sticker that says 'Max's Chair' that Barbra put up), I know all the secretaries on a first name basis and they send me christmas card every winter. That is how much time I spend in the office. "Sit down." she told me.

"Okay, Sharon. Wasn't it your cat, snookumses birthday yesterday?" That is how much time I spend in the office. Honest. I swear upon the wings on my back. Wait, you didn't know about the wings, you know, the giant 14 foot brown and white ones? No? Ok, let me explain in the SCVOHMGHW, or Super Condensed Version Of How Max Got Her Wings.

It all started before I was born, I think. I don't really know anything much about this part because it was the most unknown part of my already mysterious past. All I know was that, I was taken out early, as an embryo. I was in a test tube somewhere being turned from a pinky fetus to a full fledged baby. Somewhere around the way, some dumb ass scientist decided 'Hey! Why don't I screw around with the genetics of a innocent baby?' and I ended up with 98% human genes and 2% bird genes, which gave me wings and air sac and a bunch of lovely other things that normal humans don't have, such as weird blood and powers.

And if you don't think that's bad, try finding a swimsuit for the school's annual beach trip. I dare you. Anyways, I'm talking about how I got the wings. You may think 'oh well, that's cool.', and I have to admit, the wings are pretty cool, but what happened afterwards wasn't.

I don't really remember remember this part since I was only two, but I'm going off what my adoptive mother, Valencia Martinez, tells me. So there I was, me and three other kids, also with wings were living in dog crates, being tested on. The two years, were horrible, and I can remember that, considering the fact that I practically have a break down every time I see a needle. Eventually, the facility this all happened at got shut down, and we were thrown into orphanages with a big, figurative bucket of cash. Well, one other was. The other one was Iggy, who's practically my brother. He's been adopted by Mom too. I don't know what happened to the other two. I've always just assumed that they were dead.

So our mom adopted us bird kids, which was suitable because she's a veterinarian, but apparently there were other facilities, and slowly over they years, she's adopted another three of us, all bird kids, all with wings and fancy stuff. The five of us, Me (I me and my name is Ride. Maximum Ride, double-oh-wings.), Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and Angel, were all adopted and

sent out of the facilities at the age of two. The only one who wasn't was Angel, who came out with Gazzy six years ago at only a few months old. Angel and Gazzy are the only biological siblings here, sharing the same wispy blonde hair and angelic blue eyes. For the rest of us; it's evident that we aren't related. I have brown/dirty blind hair and brown eyes. Nudge is African-American, with dark brown hair and hair and eyes. Iggy, he's blind thanks to some experiment, but we think his now almost white- blue eyes used to be green. He also is really pale and a bit of a Ginger, with his strawberry blonde hair.

There you go, the history of my life, or at least as much as I'm going to tell you.

The principal was busy in a meeting, so I was stuck in the office for the rest of first and second period. I didn't mind. I had my iPod blasting my favorite music (Three Days Grace, Black Veil Brides, System of a Down, Serj Tankian, Evanescence, Broken Iris, Nirvana, etc.) The office ladies didn't mind. They used to, but after they realized that no matter how many times the took it away and hid it, it would be back in my hands two minutes later, courtesy of my skills.

Some time shortly after the end of first period and in the middle of 'The Morticians Daughter', Dylan and another, I hated to admit it -hunky, boy walked in and sat down in a huff, sitting as far away from each other as possible. Meaning the hunky guy was on one side. Both were dirty and bloody. The handsome boy, who had black hair falling almost over of his onyx eyes and all black clothes on, had a split lip and a cut across his left cheek. Dylan had the beginnings of a black eye and his nose was trickling blood.

"You guys got into a fight?" I asked, pulling out my ear buds and tucking them into my pocket.

"Yes." Said the dark clothes guy. "Do you mind switching spots with me? I'm too close to him."

"Sorry. No can do. This is my chair." I told him.

"Do want more blood in this office?" he growled, sending a Death Glare nearly as good as mine to Dylan. "Plus does the chair have your name on it?"

"Yes," I said, smirking. "Look up." I patted the small plaque that said 'Max's Chair.

His looked at me. "You're the infamous Max?" His face didn't say much, but I could see surprise in his eyes. "I thought you were a-"

"Guy?" I finished. "Nope. All girl. Nice lip." I pointed to his lip which was beginning to swell blue.

"Honor to me you. I'm Fang." he told me.

"I know." I said. Ha! Did I fool you thinking that I didn't know who the handsome guy was? Well I did. There really was no way that I couldn't; he was the most popular guy in school. Even more girls trailed after him than they did Dylan, even though he had a girl friend, Lissa, who was cheerleading captain. There wasn't much point in asking if they had gotten in a fight -I already knew they did; Fang and Dylan were our school's most prominent enemies. Their feud was just as notorious and infamous as my reputation for classroom behavior. plus, they were both in some of my classes, but I had never really interacted with Fang before. As a unpopular type, and him as a popular type, we didn't interact. The only reason Dylan spoke to me -tried to speak to me- was because I had known him before he got popular.

They shot Death glares through my head at each other, until it was really bugging me. "Stop using my head as a magnifier for your glares, because neither of them are as deadly as mine, and you will each get one, as well as a butt kicking."

They shrunk back and sat quietly. Just then, Dean, which is what I called the principal, called me in to his office.

"What is it now, Max?" he sighed, trying to hold back a smile. We met each other almost on a daily basis, and I could tell that he was secretly amused by my antics. He looked at the note and tried, unsuccessfully, to hold back an amused gasp. "You ate a price of paper in front of the whole class?" He started to laugh heavily and loudly, his shoulders shaking. "You can go," he told me, still laughing. "Just don't swear at my teachers anymore."

I walked out and motioned for Fang and Dylan to go on in.

Dylan looked confused. "I saw what happened in class. Why was he laughing?"

I patted them both on the shoulder. "I got him in a good mood for you, boys. I'd go in before it wears off. "


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 of Feather Strings**

**(Another 4 pages on my ipod!)**

After the 147th eternity, called school, I had experienced this year, I was pretty eager to go home. Sadly for me and the two people who got in my way, that wasn't going to happen that easily.

I heard a commotion in the part of the hallway pretty much directly in front of my locker. I elbowed my way through the crowd that was beginning to form. Inside the semicircle of people, Fang and Dylan were going at it. Again. "My two favourite people..." I mumbled sarcastically, then jumped in.

Through the tangle of their arms and legs, I managed to grab each of their shirt collars and roughly shove them apart. For a moment, they still tried to throttle each other, until they realized that I, a girl, had managed to hold back two built guys going at it with all their might. No one else seemed to notice this fact, and once they realized that no punches were going to land, they began to disperse. I lifted Fang, who's real name was actually Nick, and Dylan each by their collars, onto their tiptoes and cheerfully told them in a perfect valley girl voice, "Like, hi! Do you, like, think that you could, you know, like, move your petty fighting away from my, like, locker?" I let them drop, and they stared at me, too shocked to fight, as I packed my bag and shut the locker.

Yeah, the super strength and athletic ability came with the wings. "Iggy!" I called to him from the other end of the hallway and made sure that my voice guided his visually blind, but not in any other way blind, body to me. "C'mon!"

It was a nice day, so Iggy and I opted not to take the bus home and to use the environmentally sound option. Yeah, baby, I'm talking about flying. How else would we be able to put up with wings if we couldn't fly? We raced each other to our take off spot, a clearing, conveniently shaped like a

runway, in the woods behind our school. After I let Iggy take off, ( I needed to be able to catch him if he miscalculated and hit a tree or something.) I sprinted ten feet and jumped, pumping my wings down hard, making sure they got me airborne enough to fly normally. I joined Iggy, who was hovering about a thousand feet up.

"So what did you do in class that made everyone laugh?" Iggy, who because he was blind, sat beside me in all my classes. "I mean, I heard the note thing and everything, but what did you do with the note?"

"I ate it." I replied bluntly. "How did you do getting to second period? Dod J.J. guide you?"

"Yeah, and I have to say that J.J. Is smokin'"

I punched Iggy in the arm, not an easy maneuver to pull of 3000 feet in the air while going 50 miles an hour. "You can't even see her face." We flew around the countryside for awhile. Our family lived in a farm about 20 minutes from school and half and hour from anyone else's house so we could fly freely. Our flight from school and home took, like, 10 seconds, so Iggy and I usually detoured.

"Yeah," Iggy countered "but I felt her face."

"Don't you dare going after J.J. You're my brother and she's my best friend." I warned. "If you broke her heart, I'd whack you so hard that you could see again, then twist your spindly little spine so you could see me kick your ass."

We landed in our yard, which stretched on forever, because it was supposed to be a farm, and walked in the front door of our rustic house.

"Max! Iggy!" Angel cried joyfully. She gave us each a hug, her blue eyes sparkling. "Guess what Tommy gave me?" she held out a chubby, six year old fist. "Guess!"

"Uhhhh... A tiger!" I guessed.

"No..." She giggled.

"Tell us please!" Iggy cried dramatically. "The suspense I killing me!"

"A chocolate!" she opened her fist to reveal a crumpled tinfoil wrapper. "I was going to give you some, Max, but I got hungry and ated it already!"

I laughed. Angel was just so adorable.

"I know I'm adorable!" Angel sang as she skipped off, holding Iggy's hand. Remember when I nonchalantly mentioned that we had powers? Well, there's an example. Angel can read minds. All of us have their own powers, which appeared at random times.

Angel, the little dickens, started reading minds shortly after she learned how to talk. Nudge, who used to be worried that she was a mess-up because she didn't get a power until last year, can do pretty much ANYTHING on a computer, almost as if her brain is connected to it. Gazzy's power isn't anything worth mentioning. If you really want to know, look at his name, and give it the power of an atomic bomb. Gazzy is also really good at mimicking voices and sounds. Iggy's ability is to cook really well, even though he's blind, and sometimes he can sense color fields. I have a hard time understanding it myself, but I can say that on a really snowy winter day, when the only colors are grey and white, he can see nearly as well as anyone else. And me? I can fly at a supersonic speed, up to three hundred miles an hour, and even more during down hill flight. Sometimes, though I haven't been able to control when it happens yet, I can move objects with my mind.

"Max!" Came my mothers voice from the kitchen. She was putting a pan if her famous chocolate chip cookies i the oven.

"Yes?" I asked innocently. I washed my hands and stole two balls of raw cookie dough off a plate.

"I got a call from the school today. Again. What was it about?"

"You mean they didn't tell you?" I asked with a full mouth.

"Dean tried to, but he was laughing too hard."

"Then it's nothing to worry about." I told her, licking my fingers.

"Hey, Max." Nudge said walking into my room in the barn a few days later. She climbed up the stairs to my specially made bunk (I was extremely tall, 5'11" at the age of almost 16) and sat down on the edge. "Do you ever wonder if there's anyone else like us out there. With, you know, wings? Didn't you say there were two others in the school with you? What if they weren't dead and we got to meet them and they joined us?"

Nudge also had the gift to talk incessantly. "No, Nudge." I lied. I've never thought about that."

The next day, I was sitting -err, napping, in Math class when a note hit me in the shoulder. I unfolded it.

'Hey Max. How did you pull us apart yesterday? :S? -Fang'

The note was written in a neat, heavy black scrawl. I quickly wrote a response. A lie, because I didn't exactly want my 'secret' out.

'I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe it was just adrenaline. Max'

I looked behind me. Good he was directly behind me, so I didn't have to risk my rep having people know I passed a note to him. Ha. Yeah right. I just didn't want to get caught. I passed the note to him, and for a second, our eyes met.

I suppressed the urge to gasp as I turned around. There was some thing eerily familiar about his eyes. The note came back to me, and our conversation went like this.

Fang: liar. There's no way u got adrenaline from that.

Me: maybe im strong.

Fang: strong enough to hold back and practically lift up not one but two built jocks?

Me: why are you passing notes with me? I don't even think I know you...

I didn't add how spooked I was by the familiarity in his eyes. He sent me another note, but I didn't read it, I just shoved it in my bag.

I was less bored when the bell finally rang because of the note passing. I looked out at the sky on my way to the lunch room. "Ig, do your wings hurt too?" I asked.

"Yeah. Do you think there's a storm coming?" He said.

I looked out the window. Black clouds were netting together in the sky, and the wind was blowing. "Yeah. Judging by the ways my wings feel," I said 'wings' extra quiet. "it looks like it'll be a stormy week. I say the worst storm will be tomorrow."

"I agree." Iggy said simply.

Some people get headaches when a storm is about to come. Others get a painful trick knee or whatever. My family? Save mom, everyone in my family got sore wings when there would be summer storms and itchy wings when there was a big winter storm. It was a pretty useful weather systems. Somedays, even without storms, our wings got sore because we had to tuck them in tightly around our backs. We could only let them out at home, but sometimes that was awkward because we got caught in doorways.

As Iggy and I stood in front of my locker, grabbing our lunch money, I noticed Fang a few lockers down, changing his jacket. I saw the back of his t-shirt, where there two slits down the back, just like we did on our undershirts. It had to be a coincidence, didn't it?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 of Feather Strings**

That night, after mom and Angel had gone to bed, I sat in Nudge's room, talking to her and Iggy.

Nudge's bedroom, along with mine and a spare room were in the old barn. They were really cool rooms. She had insulated the walls and painted something on them so seal it from the elements and keep most spiders out -thank god- and they were nice and rustic. We had lights, too and got to decorate each room as we pleased.

Nudge had Christmas lights stung up everywhere, and posters of horses and bot bands on her walls, covering almost every inch, from the wood floors to the high ceiling. She painted the wood on her bunk bed with smiley faces, and did the same with her desk.

In my room, I had a bulletin board where I had tacked up some of my better drawings, and my best drawings were mounted on the wall. My black guitar lay in one corner of my back wall, the desk in the other. On the other wall, there were two bookshelfs and a flatscreen tv between the two of them. Under my loft bed, opposite to the tv wall, there were two love seats and a lamp where one could read. Finally, my favorite part of the room, on the wall with the door on it, I had two tire swings that mom had hung for my tenth birthday. Sometimes, when I couldn't sleep, I sat them and swung.

"So I saw something weird today at school. I was freaked, and that says a lot to me." I told them, remembering what had happened. I could hear the rain pounding on the roof.

"Well, I didn't." Iggy joked.

I ignored Iggy; he made these jokes all the time, and continued. "So I was passing notes to Fang," I started, ignoring Nudge's look directed to me. "About a fight I stopped the day before, and he was suspicious because I held him and Dylan up, and when I went to pass the note back, I saw his eyes, and I swear they were familiar, like I saw them a long time ago..."

"Maybe it's because you like him..." Nudge teased with a cheeky grin.

I put her in a playful headlock and noogied her. "Here's the weirdest part. I saw him taking off his jacket, and I noticed two slits in the back of his tee shirt. As in the same slits we put in our clothes for our wings."

Nudge's eyes were big and round. She gasped.

Iggy let out a low whistle. "Maybe it's just a coincidence."

"Yeah..." I murmured. "A coincidence..."

The next day at school was infuriating. Dylan, for some inane reason, kept trying to get me to go out with him, even more ferociously than before the day I literally lifted him off his feet.

'Dylan,' I wrote, finally replying after the thirteenth note. 'Please stop asking me to go out with you. I will say it nicely, just once : I. Am. Not. Interested. Please get the hint, because next time, I won't be so nice.'

I looked to where Dylan sat, at the other end of the class. I didn't want to risk anyone else reading the note, but I didn't want to wait until class ended, because I might snap after the five more notes he was sure to send. Making sure that everyone was paying attention to the movie, not me, I focused intently on the folded paper. Hopefully this would work. Seconds later, one corner of it began to flutter, then the other, and then the whole note pitched jerkily up in the air. I was going to have to practice. The note shook around the ceiling of the room, until I finally got the hang of it again, then guided the note onto Dylan's desk.

Bad Idea.

It turns out he wasn't looking at the tv, rather than spacing out, and he watched as the note fluttered onto his desk. After opening the note and reading it he sent me a look. I was worried it was going to be a hurt look, but rather, it was confused.

After class he stopped me and Iggy in the hall. "What the hell was that?" he asked in a fierce whisper.

"What was what?" I replied.

"The note just floating onto my desk. That is unnatural!" I could tell that he was choosing not to mention the incident that happened earlier that week.

"I threw it. Now goodbye." I said roughly. I shoved my way past him, pulling Iggy towered the cafeteria.

"You used you ability in class?" Iggy half shouted angrily as we stood in a nearby corner.

"Quiet down." I said frantically. "I don't want anyone finding out!"

"Which is why you used your abilities in class?"

"I thought that no one was looking! At least he didn't see me actually look up."

"Whatever." Iggy said. "Let's just go to lunch."

Let me tell you, there is nothing more exhilarating than flying in a thunderstorm alone.

Iggy had gone to J.J.'s; apparently they had a date, so when I heard the first clap of thunder a minute before the bell, I was very happy. It had been so long since I has a change to fly in a storm without four other people.

I took off to the woods, where I spent a few minutes flying low, enjoying the storm from a low hundred feet. After awhile, I did the very best part. Using my turbo speed, I shot up thousands of feet into the sky. Already soaked to the bone, I flew through the stormy clouds. Flying through storm clouds is the very best and most dangerous part of storm flights. It's indescribable, but I'll try.

Imagine being in a thick, dark mist. It's chilly and wet, but you're already cold and soaked, so you don't care. As you're flying up and up to where the clouds top is, another few hundred feet up or so. All of a sudden, incredibly bright flashes light appear all around you, so close it makes your hair come close to standing up. It only lasts a millisecond, but a jolt voided throughout your veins -a jolt of pure adrenaline, making your blood run cold in the best way. For a moment, you feel like you are in darkness. It fades away, and your vision spins a bit. The next thing you know, your eardrums feel like they're being shot. Hearing thunder so close does that to you. As your ears readjust, you hear a light whirring, kind of like the sound an old fashioned camera makes after you shoot it. Then you break through the top, and it's over.

That's what I did. I spend a longs time just flying over the clouds, watching the lighting from above. I had just sped myself up to just over a hundred miles an hour, when I crashed, midair into a bird.

Except birds don't have arms. And legs. And faces.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 of Feather Strings**

**(Wow! Nine more pages, and this whole story has ben typed on my ipod!)**

Here's a little bit of insight. If you fly into an object at over a hundred miles an hour, and said object is also going over hundred miles an hour, it's going to hurt a lot. Luckily we bird-kids healed quickly.

Another point to mention: if said events happen, both objects will fall. And they will fall for thousands of feet. Which is what we did.

The person and I fell and fell, for thousands of feet. Through the clouds, in pain, we fell, both screaming bloody murder. This was it -I was going to die. Or at least I was going to die until my wings caught some air and I managed to steady myself. Whoever flew into me (it sounds unusual, saying that, even to a person like me.), they fell for another bit, a black form, going dangerously close to the ground. I was about to zoom down to catch them before they died, but the black form managed to stop falling and hovered. It seemed that they were waiting for me, curious about who they had a midair collision with. I would be too. None of my family had black wings.

I flew down slowly, as I realized the extent of my pain. Besides the pain from running into another Avian-American (another term we used for bird kids), both of us moving faster than a speeding bullet, my winds felt as if they were to fall off. The force of the wind suddenly snapping my wings out and up was incredible. It hurt to move my wings.

"Can we land?" I shouted to the UFP or Unidentified Flying Person who was fifty feet below me.

A moment later a male's voice floated up to me. "Meet me by the hay bales!"

I drifted down to the hay bales that were on a nearby farm property. I made a rough landing because of the wind and tumbled off onto the ground, six feet down. "Ow. Again. I moaned."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I climbed back onto the bale, where a boy in black sat, large black wings outstretched. It took me a moment to register who sat before me. "Fang!"

Fang had wings too?

Fang looked at me, visibly confused over the identity of the person who sat before him. He brushed a lock of wet hair off of my face, and his touch seemed to tingle. "Max?" His expression

held nothing, but his black eyes held astonishment.

I had no idea on what to say.

It's not like they have those magazine articles to do in a situation like this. I could see the covers headlines. 'What to do if he asks you out and you're not interested', '10 steps to get out of an awkward silence' and 'what to say if you fly into a guy, 7000 feet feet in the air going a hundred miles an hour because you have wings.'

Once again, I was at a lack of words, which was unusual, so I burst out laughing. "This," I laughed. "This was the last thing I expected to happen. Ever. This is so beyond weird."

"Touché." He sighed. "So you have wings too?"

"No, I was just flying around at 7000 feet because I can jump that high." I replied.

Fang chuckled. "Well, that explains you lifting me up." He thought for a moment "We should talk about this. But not in the rain and wind."

"Yeah. That's probably a good idea. Do you want to go to my house, it's only a five minute walk?"

"It's a two second flight." Fang pointed out.

"I don't know about you, but when my wings saved my life, they whipped out. Hard. Now, they hurt just as much as it would have to hit the ground." I said, rubbing my over my shoulder to my back.

"Mine hurt too. Your house it is." Fang said, also rubbing the area near where his wings co necked with his upper back. "Uhm. Your nose I bleeding." he pulled out a tissue from his pocket. I shoved it on my nose.

I noticed that we were both soaked, and that we were both soaked, and that our clothes and hair clinging to our bodies. I also noticed Fang's decently muscled arms, his lean but strong figure and six pack. I tore my eyes away and realized that I probably looked like a mess and was showing too much boob shape. Oh well. I didn't really care.

We trudged through the mud on the dirt road leading to my house. Fang and I took turns asking each other questions about ourselves, just basic get to know you stuff.

He told me that he was sixteen in three weeks, his favorite color was, obviously black, that he loved steak burgers and fries and that a few of his favorite bands were Three Days Grace, Black Veil Brides, System of a Down, Serj Tankian, Evanescence, Broken Iris and Nirvana.

In exchange, I shared the following: I was sixteen, also in three weeks, but that was just a vague date, since no one really knew my real birthday. He told me that it was the same situation with him. I revealed that my favorite colors were black, silver, yellow and the color of a sky at 10000 feet, that I loved rib burgers and fries and that my favorite bands were verbatim to the ones he said.

We finally reached my house and I rang the doorbell. We stood side by side, both pair of wings slightly retraced, but still very visible.

"Oh, Max! You're soaking! We you on a fly. I was worried!" She cried, resting her hands on my shoulders. I watched as her face went pale and her jaw drop as she took in Fang and all his winged glory.

"Oh my lord, Max! Who is this?" she asked.

"I'm Nick," Fang said shaking her hand. "Most people just call me Fang, though."

"Well, hello, Fang. Why don't you step in and I'll bring you both some towels and hot chocolate?" Fang obediently stepped in and mom disappeared into the kitchen.

Fang turned to me and winced as his left shoulder brushed the doorway. "She didn't spaz about my wings." He murmured, this time the bewilderment visible in his often hard expression.

"I don't see why she would. She doesn't have wings herself, but she raised five other winged children." I explained.

"Wow. Before you, I had never met anyone with wings. Now its only half an hour later, and I'm in a house with five of them."

We stood in silence for a moment until my mom walked in and handed us each a mug of hot chocolate and a fluffy blue towel.

"Thanks Ms. Ride." Fang said.

Mom chuckled. "Ms. Ride is Max. I'm Mrs. Martinez, but you can call me Valencia. It's nice to meet you. We didn't know that there were any other winged kids out there."

"Neither did I," Fang started. "Until I flew into her at a hundred miles an hour. I thought I had hit a bird."

"And then else almost died." I added, and then motioned for Fang to follow me as I made my way outside to the barn. Outside, the rain and wind had let up to a breeze and a drizzle. "This is where I live." I told him, opening my door.

"In a barn?"

"Yeah me, my sister and whatever guest is staying here sleep in the barn. There are three rooms. Actual rooms. And there's a bathroom." I explained. Fang looked around. "I need to change and shower. Can I trust you not to call in, I don't know, gnome force seven and trash my room?" I asked. He nodded, so I took my towel and a pair of pjs.

I usually loved to take showers. I cherished the feeling of hot water, cleaning my body and dripping off my wings. Today, though, I rushed through the shower as fast as I could and put my pjs and underclothes on. My pjs were just a black tank top and yellow shorts, so my wings hung out.

I walked back into my room and noticed that Fang had finished his hot chocolate and was wrapped in his towel, shivering slightly.

"Are you chilly?" I asked. Fang nodded and winced again as his shoulder moved. "Let me see your shoulder. I get a lot of injuries, so I'm good at bandaging what nots."

"Okay." He said. I noticed that Fang wasn't a guy of many words. I grabbed my first aid kit out from under my bunk and waked over Fang, who has switched swings. A small puddle of water formed under where he was dripping wet.

"I need you to take off you'd shirt, or enough to see your shoulder." I told him, blushing at how horrible that sounded. I helped him take off his shirt, so it wouldn't hurt him too much. As I patted it dry, I forgot to notice the spectacular body in front of me. Errr. Forget I said that, okay?

"It looks sprained. Do you heal quickly too?"

"Yeah, yeah I do. See my lip?" Fang pointed to the lip that was split and swollen just a few days prior. Now, it was completely healed.

"Then this should be better the morning of the day after tomorrow, Saturday." I told him. "Before I bandage it though, do you want to change or shower or whatever? My brother probably has come clothes that would fit you. You loom about the same size."

Fang shivered and thought for a moment. "Yeah. That would be nice. Thanks."

"No problem. Just hang tight!" I chirped. Oh gosh. Did I just say 'chirped'? What is wrong with me?

I ran back into the house and into the room shared with Gazzy. I always knew that this could be kind of dangerous, since you could step on a stink bomb or whatever while in there. Iggy and Gazzy were best friends, and absolutely loved, the little pyros, making explosive mischief.

"Hey, Iggy." I shouted over the loud music blasting in the messy room. "IGGY!" I turned down the music.

"Yes, Max?" Iggy said, his eyes facing the ceiling.

"I have a friend over, and we got caught in the rain so my friend needs clothes, because my friends clothes are soaked, so I'm stealing some of yours." I said, not really asking.

"Can't she just steal some of yours?" Iggy groaned.

"It's a he, Iggy. Fang is over."

"Wow, Max. You talk to him for like, a day, and you already have him in your room!" Iggy said with a cheeky smirk.

I lifted up a side of his mattress, and Iggy rolled off the bed. "He has wings, dink." I told him as I grabbed some clothes.

"What?"

"I'll explain later!" I shouted, running out with a black tee and some dark green, plaid pj bottoms. They weren't black, but Fang was going to have to deal.

Fang was standing in front of my bulletin board. "Wow, Max. Did you draw these?"

I mumbled out a shy 'yes'.

"You're really good." He said.

I showed him the way to the bathroom. While he showered, I mopped up the puddle with some paper towel. 15 minutes later he came out, holding the shirt. I'll admit, I ogled a wee bit. I wondered why he wasn't wearing his shirt until I realized that I was supposed to bandage his shoulder.

"Uh... Just sit on the chair." I mumbled, motioning to my desk chair. He silently sat down and quietly watched me bandage his shoulder. I moved it up, so it was sitting in the right posture and wrapped it under his arm and around the shoulder. Then, I wrapped it around his shoulder and arm. Finally, I secured his arm to his side so it wouldn't move and render the bandaging useless. The whole time, I made sure to use a gentle, light touch.

"Okay," I said, finishing up. "Putting on a shirt will be awkward, but let me show you how to do it so you don't ruin it tomorrow morning." I kneeled down, and helped him use his good arm to undo the binding bandage from around his chest, then how to slide on the shirt and replace the bandage.

We sat silently for a few moments, kind of dazed, and the air seemed... Softer. Fang finally broke the spell. "Thanks."

"I guess we need to get talking now." I said. "Just let me put your stuff in the dryer."

Fang and I sat across from each other, cross legged on my loft bed, a plate of my moms cookies between us.

I picked up my third cookie and started to eat it. "Okay, Fang. We need to talk now. How did you get your wings?"

His face paled and tensed up slightly. "I only know what i was told from a scientist, plus a possible memory or two. I know that I was taken from the womb at five months from the womb of a young woman who was killed. They couldn't save her, so they took me and put me in a test tube or whatever and spliced my foetus with bird genes. I was born with wings and they tested on me until I was two. The testing stopped because the facility it was in got shut down. The age me a bulging savings account, the threw me into an orphanage in Baja. I spent four years there, and only one person found out about my wings, an old nurse who has since passed on. I was fostered at the age of six, and I was moved from house to house. No one ever knew about my wings."

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "I feel so bad for you. I mean, the same thing happened to me, except I was adopted only once."

"I was the one who chose to leave houses. I didn't feel comfortable staying in one place for long. I was worried about someone finding out."

"I found out. My family knows." I pointed out.

"It's different with you guys. I've got to go now, though. Talk to you tomorrow." Fang said, waking to my door.

"Wait!" I shouted. "Where was the facility?"

"California." he said.

I looked into his familiar eyes, and something snapped.

I remembered.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 of Feather Strings**

It all clicked, and two memories rushed back. Fang was one of the children I thought died, but now I remembered.

In the first memory, Fang was holding my hand through the bars of the dog crates we were in. We both cowered in fear as we watched some men in white coats give Iggy and another boy, whose image was fuzzy, a needle filled with a clear, pale green liquid. We were scared because the needle made them scream in agony, then fall asleep.

In the next memory, we were all crying. The evil men were separating us, and even though we were glad to leave the crates we had lived in, we didn't want to leave each other. I remember fumbling for Fang's fingers as I tried desperately to keep him from leaving. I screamed and cried, but could do nothing but watch as my best friend was driven away in the opposite direction.

The memories and feelings were so strong, that as soon as they ended, I collapsed onto the floor.

"Max!" Fang shouted, placing his good arm on my shoulder as I kneeled, my head swimming. "Are you okay?"

I waited until I became less dizzy and said "Yeah. Sorry, all of a sudden, some powerful memories of you, Iggy and I rushed back. That's all." I didn't mention that Iggy wasn't really in those memories, but in others.

I sniffed a bit. NO, I WAS NOT CRYING. I probably caught a cold in the rain. Maximum Ride does NOT cry. Well, maybe a little, but not often.

Fang looked at me, surprised. I would be too. I mean being reunited with an old best friend after almost 14 years, just to learn that she is the infamous schools badass, and then having her crying in front of you a week later after colliding with her mid-air! What a surprise! Don't even bother trying to say that you would have suspected that. And I wasn't freaking crying. Well, maybe a little and only a little. Say otherwise, and I'm legally required to tell you to sleep with one eye open.

All of a sudden, I felt warm, strong arms wrap me into an awkward hug. I hugged Fang back rested my face on his shoulder -totally not crying-, while he put his chin on my head. We stayed that way for a long time -not nearly long enough by my standards- swaying softly from side to side. I felt completely at peace like that, as if all was right, I had found one of the other mutant kids, and everything was alright and he was there and...

My mind shorted out a bit, with all that had happened that day and being cocooned in his arms. After what felt like... I had no idea. Time had seemed to stop, but it was probably 20 minutes, judging by how the sky had cleared, splaying the middle of a beautiful sunset on us. I pulled my head out of his shoulder, where it had fit so perfectly. "You're not leaving anymore are you?" I heard myself ask quietly, almost too quiet to hear.

"No," Fang breathed equally quietly. "Not anytime soon."

When it finally sunk in; what I was doing, what had happened during the confusing afternoon and the fact that I had just hugged a guy for nearly half an hour that had a girlfriend, I pulled out of the hug. "I guess you need to go home now." I sighed.

Fang stretched and looked at the clock. "Yeah. Kathy will be worried because I'm late. I'll just change and leave."

...

...

The next day, I walked into school beside Fang and Iggy, feeling as if the universe had shifted and noticing everyone's stares. It was weird I guess, seeing the Infamous Female Bart Simpson of the school along with her blind brother who had a reputation of being a bit of bomb-making pyromaniac walk in one day with the popular emo 'hottie' who had a girlfriend -and a newly bandaged arm. Yup. That pretty much summed everything up. a weird group. If only they knew we had wings.

Iggy knew about Fang now. I had told everyone the story. How we had met in the office, collided in mid-air and learned that he was one of the other kids that Iggy and I had ape t two years with. Everyone was surprised to hear the story, with certain hugging and bandaging scenes 'accidentally' left out, but no one more than Iggy, who had also shared a close bond with Fang. It was strange, if you thought about it. One of our former best friends and roommate, had been right under our nose, being seen almost every day in school since fourth grade and we never even noticed. I thought about the other two kids every day, and now I wondered just how close the other one could be. If it was still alive, even.

"Nickel!" Lissa cried, glomming on and kissing Fang the second she saw him. Fang winced, but I didn't think I had to do with his shoulder being jostled by Lissa. "Hey baby!"

Fang mumbled a half-hearted, distant 'hi'.

Lissa finally let go of Fang and held him at arm's length. "Oh, Nicky-Wicky!". She crooned. I made a face when I heard that, and Iggy's face went a little green. "What happened to your arm?" She touched the binding bandage that canvassed his upper and chest.

"Nothing." Fang said shaking Lissa off. I almost felt sorry for the poor girl, not noticing how uninterested Fang was in her.

"So I was thinking about going blonde..." Lissa trailed off, wrapping a red strand of her hair around her meticulously manicured finger. She flirted shamelessly with him, and I became to get very annoyed with her. I had no reason to, she never really did anything to me, so I had no idea why I was so pissed.

I stormed down the hallway to the double wide locker I shared with Iggy.

"That was disgusting." Iggy complained.

"I know." I spat, angrily shoving books into the locker and forcefully shoving them into Iggy's unsuspecting palms.

"Ow..." Iggy moaned. "That hurt."

"Can it." I snapped, slamming the locker shut.

"You sound angry, Max. Are you possibly jealous of Lissa?" He teased.

"He's my friend and I don't like him that way, Iggy. Stop acting like a third grader. "

"Suit yourself, sis." Iggy said extra annoyingly.

.

That day during lunch, Iggy sat, nibbling on overly salty sloppy Joes. It was our third sandwich. Because of the wings, we had to eat twice as much as any person, 3 or four thousand calories; depending on how active we are, so we ate a ton. In fact, we ate so much that my mom had to give the school a note just to let us eat the extra food.

"Iggy," I said, swallowing the last bite of the sloppy Joe. "I think that we need to start to figure out stuff about us, like why we have wings. Like, why they put them on and who put them on."

"Why now?" Asked Iggy

"I know this sounds so weird," I started. "But last night I had this really weird dream. I was just there in this place, but I don't know what, I was just kind of there, you know? And I couldn't hear anything or feel anything. If I listened for my heart or my breathing, there was no sound. So when I 'woke up' there, I freaked and thought that I was dead, but I knew I wasn't. Just before I had gone crazy, this voice spoke up, and told me 'they're after you, those who created you want to kill you' and I freaked and was, all like 'what the hey'.

"So the next thing I knew, I was walking through a building, being guided as if I was holding an invisible hand. And it took me through the building. We walked through room to room, but it never said or explained anything, even any of the really weird stuff I saw. I saw all this medical stuff, and there were operating rooms like a hospital, but there were also dark rooms, with stacked crates everywhere and I couldn't see, but I heard screams and moans and noises that sounded like they were from the monster under the bed. And some rooms just had one person in it, like once I saw what looked like a girl suspended in a ball of electricity, or a girl going from wall to wall, changing her hand colour to match.

"I noticed that they were all kids. Finally we come to one room with an open door, and something seemed to be telling me to go in. Inside it was us, and one other boy. I saw you on the ground, and all you were doing was clutching your eyes and screaming. The other boy had his back to me, but he just sat, terrified. And then there was Fang and I, and our tiny two year old wings were out a little. We were patting your back and comforting you, but I could tell we were scared. Eventually, I had to leave, but as we began to walk to a door at the end of the hall, I ran back into the room again. Something was pulling me back, but I ran in anyways. I still heard the screams and murmurs trying to comfort you, but we were gone from the crates that we were in, and we weren't in any of the other crates, but there still were screams. The next thing I know I'm rushing, flying through the night at my turbo-speed, but even faster. I walk into the barn, and I see someone sleeping in my bed, but it's just me. And I notice the sunrise and the clouds. I remember that. When I go to wake me up, my hand connected with hers, as if I had left my body and was re-entering. I woke up, and looked out the window, and the clouds were the same as the clouds and sky when I walked in. What was really weird was that the door was unlocked, and I saw some fresh mud on the floor, in my foot shape, but my feet were clean. And my wings were out, and they were cool, with blood coursing through them as if I had gone for an early morning fly..." I sucked in a deep breath, as if the little speech had winded me.

"Wow." Breathed Iggy. "Weird. But I bet it's just a dream."

"Probably," I sighed and threw our garbage into trash. "But it was so real. Like I was really there, but someone wanted me to think it was a dream."

"I agree that it's weird, but we have study hall, and and I want to talk to J.J."

"How was your date by the way?" I asked sleepily, realizing that I was exhausted... As if I had been up all night.

"Nice. We went to get ice cream, then sat at the park talking for awhile. Then her mom called frantically, asking where J.J. was, and J.J. reminded her that she had already told her mom a million times where she was going and when. And then her mom said that she was really sorry, and had forgotten, but she needed J.J. home, so J.J. drove me back." Iggy grinned.

"And..." I prodded.

"Sorry don't kiss and tell." Iggy smirked as we walked into the library for study hall.

I was annoyed. "Don't be a fag, Iggy."

"Live with not knowing." Iggy said, walking over to J.J. had called him. I sat in a chair, at the end of an aisle. I nodded off, and when the bell rang and I woke up, Iggy and J.J. were gone, but there was a note in my lap. I unfolded it and read it.

_'You and Iggy meet me at the Runway after school. (Clearing in woods, if u didn't kno). -F'_

It was written in a blue sharpie pen. I looked at the clock. 2:15! I had slept through most of fifth period! Why did Iggy not wake me up? Oh wait, he was too busy with his girlfriend. I was going to beat that kid into next week if I got in trouble. I only had fifteen more minutes until dismissal, so I decided to wait it out in the library. I looked to see if there were any books that might explain anything. I had no idea on what to look for, so I flipped through a thick book called 'Science and Engineering'. I went to the table of contents, running through several different topics. Only one seemed to catch my eye, 'Genetic Engineering'.

I began to read. 'Genetic Engineering, also known as genetic modification, is the process of directly manipulating and altering the genome of an organism. Using Modern DNA technology, foreign or synthesized DNA is combined in the organism. Though not imperative to the process, traditional methods of propagation are often of use in the creation of recombinant life forms.'

The bell rang, so I made my way downstairs to find Iggy. Well, that was a good start. I had gotten the main topic of research interest in one try, which was great. I wasn't really sure about what recombinant life forms were, but we seemed to be them. Joy. Just another thing to add to the list of things that we could list of things to call ourselves. I'd love to hear Angel try to say that.

"I'm sorry J.J., but I have to steal Iggy from you now. We have a... A very important meeting we need to attend."

"Do you want a drive there?" She asked.

"Uh... No thanks. It's... We can walk. It's nearby." J.J. gave me a confused glance as I half dragged Iggy out the door.

"What was that for?" Iggy cried, annoyed, as we walked through the woods.

"I told you. We have a very important meeting. It's just in the woods. "We're at the Runway, Iggy."

A moment later, Fang appeared from the shadows. "Oh my gosh!" I shrieked. "What the hey was that?"

"What?" Fang asked.

"You- You just appeared out of thin air!" I shouted, pointing at him accusingly. Iggy looked confused.

"No I didn't. I was standing there the whole time."

"No." I argued. "I know people appearing out of nowhere when I see it."

"Whatever, Max." Fang said, putting a finger over my mouth. "I'm here to ask you guys something important."

"Okay, shoot."

"Well, did either of you wake up after a really weird dream and it looked as if you were sleepwalking?"

"Yeah. I did." I said. I told him what had happened in my dream.

"My dream was the exact same as yours," Fang said. "Except I didn't hear a voice, I just appeared in the building."

"Do you think the building could be the facility, you know, the 'School'?" Iggy asked.

I nodded. "After someone left me in the library and made me sleep through most of fourth and fifth period," I coughed pointedly in Iggy's direction. "I decided that we need to do research. Like figure out the answers to some of our questions and such."

"Ok." Fang agreed. I looked around. Fang wasn't there.

"Holy Shizz, Fang where are you?" I shouted.

"Don't yell!" Fang said. He waved and materialized in front of me.

"Will you please stop turning invisible. It's damn annoying!"

Then I realized how weird that sounded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 of Feather Strings**

Over the next few weeks, Fang was welcomed with open arms into our little flock. Gazzy seem to idolize him a little, and for a week he only wore black clothes. After that, he ran out of clean black clothes and reverted back to his usual attire. Iggy and I spent the most time with Fang, for obvious reasons, and we spent hours flying and talking, especially about what happened after we left the 'School'.

...

Two weeks had rolled past, and soon, everyone was preparing for our sixteenth birthday!

"Please pretty please!" Angel begged. "With a cherry on top!"

"Yeah Fang!" Whined Nudge. "You're one of now! Spend your birthday with us!"

They pulled their Bambi eyes, and Fang was forced by the All Mighty Bambi Eyes Influence to agree.

"I don't even want to celebrate my sixteenth." Fang whispered to me afterwards.

"Join the club." I whispered back. "But that's what happens when they put put the Bamb' eyes on you. It's irresistible."

...

...

Two days before our set birthday date, which varied from year to year, but was always kept in the first week of June, Lissa broke up with Fang.

"All you ever do is hang out with Max and her band of misfits. You don't ever pay attention to me. Feel free to go screw Max now! We're over!"

"I hope she knows that her band of misfits is a one man band." Iggy said to me as Fang walked over. Aside from the occasional time with J.J., who had begun to hang out with the drama kids more, it was only Iggy and I in the 'Band of Misfits'...

"Finally." Fang sighed.

His popularity plummeted afterwards -only the unpopular girls or the semi-popular girls with an extra pound or two ogled over Fang now, making Dylan way ahead of him.- but Fang didn't seem to notice or care.

...

...

Now that Fang was hanging out with us, Dylan kept making even more desperate attempts to get me to go out with him.

Finally, one day exasperatedly I asked him what I could do to make him 'shove the heck off'. He told me one date, and I agreed to go, the night after our birthday.

...

...

"Happy birthday dear, Iggy, Maximum and Fang! Happy birthday to yoooouuuu!" Sang my family. It was Fang, Iggy's and mine shared birthday, and our family threw a huge celebration. Even was was there, and I knew that he was getting gifts.

There was a huge cake that Iggy made. Three layers thick, full of thick chocolate frosting. And there was ice cream. We all ate ourselves into a chocolate stupor, bellies full, and Mom feeding a moaning Gazzy Gravol, because he ate himself sick and nearly puked.

"Present time!" Nudge cheered, pulling out three small boxes, mine wrapped in blue, Fangs in black and Iggy's in red, because he could 'feel' red the best. "Open them. They were my idea!"

"Nudge," I said. "I thought we agreed; no gifts for me."

"But we couldn't leave you out!" She whined, beginning to put on Bambi eyes.

"Fine." I sighed. We tore the paper off the boxes to reveal an iPod Nano for each of us, the color of the iPod matching the color of the wrapping paper.

"Thanks!" The three of us cheered. "These rock!" Fang even gave a small grin, which was the equivalent to an ear to ear smile.

"I hope you and Fang don't mind having the exact same library." My mom said to me. "I just know you guys like the same music."

"No, don't worry, Ms. M. These are perfect, but you didn't have to get me anything." Fang said.

"Yeah, plus my iPod broke last week." I added.

Gazzy, who looked a lit less green brought out three yellow envelopes and handed them to us. "Me and Angel came up with the idea." Gazzy said proudly.

"It took forever to convince mom because I didn't want to, you know, brainwash her into letting us get them, but she finally agreed because you guys are special." Angel added sweetly. Yes *insert face palm* she can also force people to do whatever she wants with her mind.

"Now you've got me all eager to find out." I said.

"And a little scared." Iggy joked.

We opened the envelopes and pulled out a certificate. "Holy cow. This is epic. Thanks again."

"I've always wanted one." Fang said, giving another half grin.

"What is it?" Iggy asked.

"I've always wanted one too." I mused. "In fact, I may take a few of these."

"No!" Mom cried!

"What is it?" Iggy asked again, getting frustrated.

"I'm kidding mom. Kind of. I've been tampering with the idea of three matching small ones."

"Maybe." Mom sighed.

"SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE STINKING PRESENT IS!" Iggy screamed.

I laughed. "A certificate. For a tatoo."

"Sweet!" he shouted, giving Gazzy a high five.

"Fang... I've already asked your foster parents." Angel said innocently.

"You didn't 'persuade' them did you?" I asked, sending Angel a glare. She didn't answer. I sighed sadly. That kid was crazy. I turned to mom. "When do we get them?"

"I can take you into town tomorrow, if Fang could come." she responded.

"I need to go research now, mom. Thanks for everything." I told her, walking to my room, Fang in tow. Over the past few weeks. Fang and I had begun to research. We had only looked up the basics of genetic engineering -man there was a lot- and the rules and former facilities and such. Those people were pretty evil.

Basically, genetic engineering is splicing the genes of something into the genes of a developing creature. There's a lot of controversy around it. It's pretty much illegal to do so in humans, because if they survive infancy,they often lead painful lives, with horrible side effects. Even though it's illegal, there are still some secret facilities, possibly government run, who do it. We believe that we came from one of those facilities.

We were kind of at a stuck point now, though. We weren't sure where to go. "Why don't we look up the experiments? Like, see of there's anything specifically on us." Fang suggested one we got to my room. He pulled up another chair beside me and we looked at my laptop.

"Okay." I typed in the name of the facility we were in (which I can't tell you for safety reasons), 'genetic experiment', 'recombinant' and 'wings' into google. The first several pages were fruitless. Just as I was about to change the search, Fang pointed out a link.

"facility(nameremovedforsaftey)." He read. "Well, that proves that it's government run. Check out the link."

I clicked on it. A simple page loaded, with only three links. There was the heading of 'PROJECTS'. Underneath, the links read 'Successful Recombinant Projects', 'Failure Recombinant Projects' and the last one simply read 'recovery'.

A pop up box appeared on the screen asking for a password. I ran in to get Nudge. She came in and after a short moment of pop up boxes, rapid mouse clicks and speedy typing, she rubbed her hands on her pants and said. "You're in."

I thanked Nudge profusely and she left, mumbling that she was getting slow at hacking and should get some practice.

"Where to now?" Fang asked, reappearing and turning to me. He was doing that a lot now. I guess it was his super power or something, because every time he sat fairly still for a period of time, he slowly faded out of view and wouldn't reappear until he moved significantly.

"Why don't we check out the 'Failure' section? We may not find anything at all, but since were were let go, we may be there."

I waded through all ten or so pages in the fail section. They were all links to PDF files, and I opened and scanned the first few. I won't divulge the details, because that would launch me into a nightmare all over again. Basically, what's important is that the reports listed the DNA of in which the injected the subject with, whether or not the DNA was synthetic, the purpose of the experiment, the subject species -which was always listed as human-, the amount of injection, the side effects (horrifying) possible reasons it had failed and ways to correct it.

Those scientist were pretty evil. There were human babies spliced with the DNA of a flesh eating virus to see if the human body would eat itself! I finally finished looking through the failures around three a.m. We weren't on the list. ( happy or sad?). I was exhausted, so I rested my head on his invisible shoulder and closed my weary eyes. "At least we're not failures." i chuckled "This is tiring, but I can't help but feeling that we're about to stumble upon something."

"Hmmm." Fang murmured. He was still invisible. "Why don't you rest and take a break? It's three in the morning."

"I know. Just another half hour or hour. Does your mom know you're here?"

"Doesn't care."

I didn't bother to ask, but I opened the link to Successful Recombinant Projects'. There was only one listed as a success, and it was pretty obvious that it was us. 'Project 0017539: Children and Avian DNA; Winged Humans'

"Any money that's us." I said to Fang. He didn't respond or reappear, and I heard deep breathing. I draped a blanket around his invisible, sleeping figure and left the file closed. I didn't was to open this without him, so I listened to music on my iPod whilst waiting.

Eventually, half and hour or so later, Fang stirred. "Are you awake now?" I asked him and he gave a groggy nod. "Okay. I found the file on us. I was waiting for you to wake up."

"You didn't have to wait." he told me, a stange light in his eyes that I chalked up to the computer.

I ignored him and opened up the link. The file opened, but there wasn't as much information as the failures. It read only: 'DISCONTINUED as of 2005. See recovery.' It said the document was created in 1995 and was last edited in 2006.

"Well that was a fail." I said dejectedly, a frown on my face. All that time for nothing.

"Wait Max," he said, brushing my hand off the mouse and away from the exit button. My hand tingled slightly at his touch. "Look. The document was created in the year we were born and last edited the year Angel was born." He scrolled down and there were a series of pictures with 'Subject 1 of 8, Fetal development.'

The pictures were of a fetus that looked like it had the beginnings of wings. As the pictures progressed, the fetus developed, the wings did too. The final picture was of a (naked, eww) winged baby girl probably only a month old, with doe brown eyes, dirty blonde hair and brown and white wings, all downy and small. I think it was me.

"Thats me. I'm subject 1" I whispered. Fang looked at my face.

"I've seen Max naked." He sang.

I punched him in the arm. "Pervert!"

"It's true!"

I laughed, and Fang gave another dazzling half smile. My heart began to pound. I turned back to the computer and it's eerie blue glow, but I felt Fangs intent gaze on me. I clicked on the recovery link and a video, posted only a few weeks ago began to play.

A chubby, bald man spoke. "Sir, I apologize for the imcomptence of our scientists. I am aware that the allotted study time for the winged children in the real world. I am also aware that the scientists had lost the information regarding their whereabouts and that we have missed the deadline of termination. They have been dealt with accordingly. We have now secured the whereabouts of one through seven, eight is presumed dead. On the 12th of June we will move in and recover the subjects, then terminate them."

The video ended. I looked to Fang. The were going to kill us in seven days?


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 of Feather Strings**

"If they're talking about us, which they probably are, they are going to try to kill us in seven days." Fang said to me. He actually looked worried, which must have meant there was unbelievable terror inside.

"I know this sounds spur of the moment, but we need to leave," I said, a Alpha Female instinct kicking in. "I give us three days to prepare, four days to fly as far away as possible."

"You've always been the leader." Fang said. I was sure he was reaching into some memory that I had no recollection of.

...

...

"Okay," I said to Fang as we waited in the tattoo parlor the next morning. We both had bags under our eyes and were slightly dazed. My mom was surprised to see him still there in the morning, both of us still in our clothes talking seriously. She called his foster mother to let her know that he was here, getting the tattoo. Iggy was getting his right now, the first of us.

"What's the plan?" I asked. This was a quiz. We had spent the rest of the night making the plans to leave. It was impromptu and sudden, but we had researched some more, and the evidence was indisputable. In less than a week, we were going to be on the run from evil scientists trying to kill us. Sounds like a cartoon doesn't it? Too bad it isn't.

"First," Fang started. "We leave the day after tomorrow, in the night. We spend the next three days preparing, then vamoose. The next four days will be spent getting as far away as possible. It appears that it took the scientists only a few weeks to track us down, so we will go one of three directions, to be decided at the moment we leave. To decide the location, you will say the one of the secret words we have assigned to each location, in case they are monitoring us. When we reach said place, we will try to find a remote area to settle down in. We will avoid human contact as much as possible. If we are caught, as it looks like these people are intent on catching us and are technologically advanced, so we will fight, then flight, and go to one of the other locations."

"Good." I said.

"Tell me how we will prepare to depart and the locations." Fang quizzed.

"We," I began. "will prepare to depart by spending the next few days collecting the necessary supplies -food, clothes and maps for example- and pre packing them. Important supplies, such as first aid kits, will be split across two or three bags in the event that one bag is lost. We will cash part of each of our savings that we received and store the money, which will be held in secret compartments, split across each of the seven bags. We will not tell the flock that we are leaving. I do feel bad to deceive them, but they know nothing of this, except for Iggy, and will not want to leave. We will take them on a midnight flight and explain the situation. If they are on board, we will return to the house to say goodbye. It they are opposed, we will give them their back packs and fly on.

"The three locations are northern or maritime Canada, remote places in Brazil, or somewhere small in the Caribbean. To reach Canada and Brazil, we will fly direct to location, only stopping to rest, eat and -god forbid- treat wounds. To get to the Caribbean, we will fly to the Florida Keys, going to the nearest island and then island hopping until we find a good location. Fang, what are the possible enemies that may occur?"

Yeah, that sucks. On top of the plot to kill us and us having to leave everything we care about (except for us.), right before we finished planning our escape, we found another report, done by the same man in the video, Dr. William VonCarte (there's your villain, kids!) addressed only to 'Sir' saying that he had prepared the humanoids. Of course, there would be goons. What kind of evil plot was complete without goons? None!

Luckily, now that Nudge had hacked the security (took her a good ten minutes D: ), we had easier access to the information that was being shared over the facility's secret site. We quickly found a hidden section -or at least attemptedly hidden; even non hackers like us managed to find them, I guess they thought that their security system was enough- on humanoids. Damn, was that disturbing. Basically, they have two different types of humanoids, Neo-Humanoids and Exo-Humanoids. Be prepared; it gets a bit freaky here.

Both Neo and Exo-Humanoids were a combination of human and robot, and one Neo-Humanoid and one Exo-Humanoid could be made from one human, and one robot and a few extra parts.

To get them, you take apart a human and a robot without killing the human's brain and allowing tissue decay.

A Neo-Humanoid was a robot, through and through. It had synthesized human flesh, made from tissue samples, on the outside. There was no blood vessels of internal organs, except for the brain, because the flesh was used simply to cover the robot. The tissue was kept from decay by chemical treatments. The robot shorted out easily, as the report stupidly said (why would you write that down? You should expect mutant bird kids to read it once they know that you're after them) so if we cut though the flesh and pour enough water or spit or whatever onto it, it would be rendered useless. A few sentences before, I mentioned that the only organ that it had was a simple brain that could give and receive basic combat commands.

Exo-Humanoids were a bit of the opposite. They had robot brains which were more intelligent, but their bodies were human, occasionally mixed with the DNA of another animal, making them much less resilient.

We were surprised that all this information online, but Fang pointed out that the website was protected by a high, high tech security system that probably only the worlds best hackers could get into. They just didn't count on any of the hackers wanting to get in.

As soon as we were done reviewing, Iggy stepped out. We all had long sleeved shirts and pants on so that our tattoos would be a secret to everyone. I didn't know what one of Iggy's tattoos was, but all three of us were matching tattoos on our left wrists. It was going to be simple, just the word 'fly' written on small, and in a small font. We were getting the other flock members 'fly' tattoos too, as soon as they were older.

Fang walked in next, and as he disappeared, I tried to get Iggy to tell me what he got.

"Come on, I'll tell you if it looks good, since you don't know!" I begged.

"Is the 'fly' one good?"

"Yes..."

"Then I'll trust that mine looks good. You can see for yourself in a few hours though."

I groaned, and flopped back in the plastic chair passively. Fang came out after an hour rubbing his arm and holding a tub of cream. We were supposed to apply it every day until it healed, a few weeks later, so basically apply it once and hour for six hours and we were good.

"Velcome to zee haus of pain." Fang said to me as I walked past him on my way to get stabbed by an inky needle hundreds of times. And then I realized what was going to happen. Break the sentence apart. Stabbed. Needle. Hundreds of times. Remember, I have needle issues, a carry over from childhood.

"How did you do it?" I asked before I went into the back room, where a panic attack was sure to ensue.

"Do what?" Fang asked.

"The needle!"

"It was hard, but it's okay." He consoled. "You're not at the school anymore. They aren't trying to hurt you, they're just trying to give you at tattoo that you wanted."

I nodded, worried that I was going to cry hysterically. Let me tell you sonething, I am tough. Really tough. Tougher than nails, but everyone, probably even Mr. Stone-Faced Fang, had one fear, one horrible fear that made your blood run cold. One fear that made you want to cry, or run away screaming or curl up in a ball and disappear.

"Everyone is afraid of something, Max, even you, even me, everyone." he consoled. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

I shook my head. "You can't see my other tattoo before anyone else." I said weakly.

"Clowns and Santa Clause. I'm terrified of them. You just can't trust people that happy." Fang told me as I walked in the room to face my fears.

"Don't cry." He teased.

...

...

Finally, two painful hours later, the tattoos were done. I rubbed my wrist and where I had gotten the other tattoo.

How did I survive? Barely, but, I am proud to say, without shedding a single tear. So Fang can stick that in his juice box and SUCK IT!

It did hurt getting the tattoo, but I zoned out enough so that I only felt a few pinpricks. Call it a gift, a skill perfected by years of mind-numbing school and having to ignore the people in fifth grade for being a 'big, tall nerd'. I was really tall in fifth grade, nearly five feet tall, and I was really smart, which was why I got so bored in school. Bullies and boring teachers. Who ever thought that they'd help you get a tattoo?

"Did she behave?" Fang jokingly asked the tattooed tattoo artist. "She didn't cry or freak or knock anyone out like she did with poor Iggy?" Fang pointed to Iggy, who had fallen asleep.

I sneered at Fang, while the tattoo artist said. "Perfect. Not a problem, whine or tear. It was a pleasure tattooing her." The artist playfully winked at me.

A noticed Fangs shoulders tense the smallest bit. Over the past month, I had become really good at reading his body language -I had to. He never showed any expression. He relaxed them only slightly as he managed a strained. "Good."

We went to pay, and and then waited outside of the shop for Mom to show up. We left a still sleeping beauty inside, while we talked.

"Gosh," I said looking out at the mountains surrounding the town. I can't tell you what town because they could find out, but I'll let you know that it's somewhere in Colorado. "I'll miss it here."

"Me too." Fang said staring intensely at the panorama, and when I said panorama, I mean me, specifically my eyes, which. Was. WEIRD.

I looked away. "What was that back there? With the tattoo guy?"

"Nothing." He said quickly.

"No it was something. I could tell. You were..." I searched around for the right word. "Ticked off." +10 pts. for me! I found a good word to describe it. Almost. Except he wasn't ticked off. I didn't know what it was, but ticked off seemed close enough.

Fang shrugged. "He winked at you. That's pedo. He was like, thirty or something." He said, tensing up a bit again. "Plus, you won. I whined a little getting my tat."

...

...

Fang, Iggy and I stood in the living room, where the family was gathered, preparing to see our new tattoos. Iggy had his shirt collar popped up, I had on low rise jeans and Fang had a jacket on over his TShirt. We had already shown the small 'fly' tattoos an everyone's faces were scrunched up in anticipation.

"Show us!" Nudge shouted, clapping her hands excitedly. She, Angel and Gazzy were all on the couch in front of us, and mom stood behind the couch.

"Iggy," I ordered. "You first."

Iggy pulled the collar down on his shirt, but before Fang or I had a chance to see, the flock had rushed to his side, pulling him down so they could see better.

"Oh! It suits you so perfectly!" Nudge chirped.

"Nice one, dude!" Gazzy shouted, slapping Iggy a high five.

I finally got a look, and I have to say, Iggy chose well. On the side of his neck was a red cartoon bomb looking like it was about blow, with white wings attached to the side. I chuckled and motioned for Fang to show everyone his tattoo.

On his upper arm, he had gotten a small classic smiley face, except the smile perfectly mimicked Fang's half grin. It also has two shiny white fangs and a pair black wings that looked just like his. Everyone 'oohed' and 'ahhhed', commenting on how cool it was. I stood to the side, a small smirk on my face as I realized that Fang had the same smile on at that moment that his tattoo had.

And something flickered inside of me.

Finally, it was my turn. Slowly, I hitched my shirt up a few inches and turned around. On my lower back, I had decided on a pair of wings. They started an inch and an half above my butt, the bases separated by a small space, then swooped up an out into a pair of beautifully stylized wings. They were colored the same as my wing, brown and tan and white.

"Ohhhh..." Nudge gasped. "That's so beyond beautiful"

"Just like Max is!" Angel added.

I ruffled her hair. "Thanks sweetie!" I said, then added in thought form so she would hear it, '...but I'm not beautiful.'

"Yes, you are!" She whispered into my ear. "Fang thinks so too!" My shoulders tensed up and I looked down, so that no one would see me blush. Most people could just discredit that, but not of the person telling you was a mind reader. Never, ever have a) personal b) romantic c) mean or d) all of the above thoughts within a twenty foot radius of that child. And then I was the one that realized that I was happy/embarrassed, not Fang.

...

...

That night, until Fang went home, while everyone admired our tattoos, Fang and I took turns packing bags. We had managed to cash some money already, and after everyone went to bed, I finished packing and shoved the bags into my closet.

Angel walked into my room. "Max, why are we leaving?" she asked nervously.

I tried to keep the expletives in my head out of her impressionable mind. "We have to."

A shocked look came over her face, as she learned of our plan and everything we knew about Dr. VonCarte's plan. (Hope you didn't already forget who he was, children!) Her eyes went wide. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "I tried to hide it so you couldn't force yourself to stay." I confessed.

Angel thought for a moment. "No. I think we should leave. Tomorrow, even."

And that was that.

...

...

I fought back tears as I looked back at the dark house, my arm around a sobbing Nudge's shoulders. Here we were, about to leave. I hope that mom would see the note explaining that we had to leave before she panicked.

"I said goodbye instead of goodnight." Nudge cried. None of us were happy about leaving our mom. Iggy wouldn't look at anyone, trying to hide his red rimmed eyes. Gazzy was trying to be strong, but a few tears still slipped down his cheeks. Nudge, being Nudge was sobbing dramatically. Angel had her face buried in Iggy's shoulder. The only ones not crying was Fang and I. Fang didn't count as much; he'd only know us (again) for slightly over a month, even though he was like family to all of us, and I was in a losing battle.

Fang snaked one of his arms around my shoulder and pulled me against him. "It's okay." He whispered into my hair.

I gave a fierce nod, then we all took off into the night.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 of Feather Strings**

The chilly night wind in my hair would have felt amazing, except that we were kind of leaving everything and everyone that we had ever known. Oh, and don't forget: We were also on the run for our lives, which would be over in only a few days if they found us. Yes, people, this is my life now. Girl on the run, with nothing but herself and her adopted siblings. Yay.

Fang turned to me, his face illuminated by moonlight. "Okay, leader. Where to?"

I thought about our options. 1: We could end up in the Caribbean, but I heard that hurricane season was starting soon. Ovbiously, A hurricane is not a desirable condition to fly in. 2)Brazil. Except we knew absolutely nothing about it or even if it was a good idea in the first place. 3)Or we could just go to Canada. That seemed like a somewhat decent option, except for all the Canucks walking around. (A/N: IM A CANUCK :P)

'Stay in America. They'll expect you to flee out of the country as soon as they know.' Said a voice.

"Who said that?" I shouted over the wind.

"Said what?" Angel asked.

"Nobody said anything, Max." Nudge said, looking at me strangely.

"Sure you did," I argued. "One of you just told me where we should go."

"Nobody said anything, Max. Maybe you thought they did because of the, like, wind in your ears or something." Gazzy suggested.

"Then there's just a maaaaggggical voice in my head that tells me where to go, then EXPLAINS it's logic." I said sarcastically.

"Max," Fang said. "I hate to interrupt your inner turmoil, but we need to decide where to go soon, or we'll end up in Turkey."

"We stay in America." I declared. "Once they find out that we've foiled their evil plan, they'll expect us to flee the country and what not. It should buy us time."

"Okay," Fang said. "But where?"

I waited impatiently to see if whatever was in my head would tell me exactly where to go.

'go where your wings guide you.' the Voice said.

"McDonalds?" I groaned.

Fang looked at me. "You want us to go to McDonalds?"

"No. I was...thinking." 'Okay, voice' I thought. 'Where exactly are my wings guiding me?'

'you know in your head where to go.' The Voice replied. Arggghhh.

"Look," I said, this time out loud. "Are you going to be a permanent fixture, because you and your fortune cookie answers are already annoying me a lot." I waitied for a response, but didn't get one.

"Who are you talking to, Max?" Iggy asked.

"Just the maaaaggggical voice in my head that tells me what to do."

...

...

Sir pounded his fist onto the key board, causing a dozen random letters to appear in the text box. That insolent VonCarte! How many times had he told him not to kill the Winged Children? They were part of his Master Plan. If they were to die, all his work for the past two decades would be redundant! Useless, swept away. He needed them. Without them, he could not duplicate the lost DNA strand that had allowed them to be the first and only successful non-androidial hybrid. Without them, he could never get the trust of society! Without them, he could never find the way to recombinant success! No way to create his army and to create his new world.

One chance, once more chance was all he would give to VonCarte.

He picked up his phone.

...

...

I don't know where in God's name I was flying, I was just doing what felt right. And right now, what felt right was to refuel our starving bodies and rest.

Nudge sent me a look, a look that said 'I'm hungry.'

"Guys!" I shouted. "We're going to refuel and find a place to rest okay?"

I was met with four relieved faces and one nod from Fang, who had become my right-wing man. Ha ha. Get it?

We were kind of in the middle of no where, somewhere between the end areas of Colorado and the beginning reaches of Utah. There wasn't any nearby places we could get food, so we swooped around the mountains for awhile. Eventually, I spotted a nice patch of trees in a clearing by a river. Perfect. I caught Fang's eye. I jerked my head in the direction of the trees and he nodded back. We swooped down, the flock following suit. After a rough landing, we spread ourselves on the thick branches of a tree.

"This is where we're staying tonight? Any objections? If so, hold it in." I told everyone. "We're going to have a long day tomorrow, so eat up and get some sleep. I'm going to keep watch."

Fang looked at me. "All night? You barely slept the past few days."

"Okay, I get three hours, you get three hours." I told him. I pulled out a few granola bars and began to eat them. "I get first watch."

"Fine with me.I'll eat later." Fang said and went to sleep.

Slowly, The rest of the flock drifted off, so I was left, tensely waiting for the sun to rise. The three hours I had to keep watch for were long up, but Fang looked peaceful sleeping, so I didn't wake him up. At five in the morning, an hour through Fang's shift, he stirred. The first thing he did was look at my watch, nearly making me fall off the branch while grabbing my arm to do so.

"Sleep. Now." he ordered.

I shook my head and tried to fight, but I ended up falling asleep first.

...

...

We were back in the air again, soaring joyously. It was only the early afternoon, but we had already been flying for several hours, leaving Utah in the dust. I had finally managed to hash out a vague plan of where to go in my head. We were going to California; I figured it would be a pretty safe place, with us being able to jump from place to place and the beaches were an added bonus. Plus, everyone else seemed to want to go there. I hoped that we could hit Battle Creek, Nevada, by day's end, getting to Reno the next day and then making one long day all the way to Los Angeles. That way, we could have one last fun day before our possible annihilation.

I waited to see if the Voice was going to give me any insight, or if it was just a one time crazy episode, but it said nothing if it was still there.

"Angel, shut your mouth!" I told her. She was flying with her mouth wide open, screaming with glee. "Not to rain on your parade or anything, but if you're not interested in a mouthful of bugs, and I doubt you're hungry enough for that, you may want to close your mouth."

The sun was warm on my face as we flew. I could fly forever, swooping freely up and down, through the clouds and above any nasty weather, but I could tell that the little ones needed to refuel again.

"I'll be back in a few." I told everyone, tucking my wings in and free falling head first for a few thousand feet. Snapping out my wings a thousand feet up, I used my raptor vision to seek out anyplace where we could get some grub. I spotted what looked like a small town, so I torpedoed up, and told everyone to come down.

Ducking into a small fast food restaurant, we fueled up and were sitting, waiting for the food to settle for a bit before flying. (Don't tell anyone because she'd kill me, but Nudge use to get airsickness if she ate and then flew right afterwards. I feel bad for the poor schmuck below her...)

I was itching to get back in the air. I was hot, -no, not in that way- as in high fever, melt an icecube in two seconds flat hot. Also, I was lightheaded and dizzy and I had a horrible headache.

"Max are you okay?" Angel asked. "You look really pale."

"I-I'm fine. Jus' need a lil' walk." I managed to choke out. I stumbled blindly out of the restaurant. The edges of my vision were dark, so I could only see a blurry small area in the center of my vision. I tried to lean against the wall, but miraculously, I missed and barely managed to keep myself from falling. What was wrong with me? I rubbed my throbbing temples and silently asked the Voice if this was it's fault. No reply.

The bell dinged as the restaurant door opened and someone walked out. I could only see a black blob.

"Max, you really don't look alright." Fang commented. To me, it sounded as he were speaking with a mouthful of cotton.

"I'm fine. I just need to fly it off." I said tersely. With that, I ran down the parking lot, tripping slightly over my feet, until I managed to lift myself off the ground a few feet. I pumped my wings up and up, hoping the ill feeling would go away, but it didn't. I had only made it up a short way into the air when I blacked out.

...

...

I opened my eyes, just to see a girl. She looked like any normal person until I looked closer and saw her red eyes, faintly glowing, and the seams around her neck and shoulders. She was wearing a jumpsuit with the letter 'E' on it.

...

...

When I came to, the last rays of the sun were slipping over the flat horizon. I was lying somewhere with dry, dry sand. My head was still pounding, but my vision had cleared some and the extreme heat that I felt had been replaced by a tinge of chilliness. I moaned a bit, then managed to lift my head a a small amount. Fang was the only one near me, sitting on a rock holding something cool and damp to my forehead. Everyone else was huddled together, a good thirty feet away looking scared.

"Wha... What happened?" My voice slurred slightly.

"You blacked out." Fang said.

"I remember that. I mean why are they huddled over there looking like terrified puppies?" I asked. I put my head back down; it was starting to swim again. I realized that I was resting my head on his legs.

"We decided to land here and while you were just laying there, you had a bit of an unconscious freak out." He said slowly.

"It was really freaky! You were just lying there not moving or making any noise and all of a sudden our backpacks started flying everywhere! They opened and cans and clothes and everything started zooming about, just moving crazily. We ran away 'cause we didn't want the stuff to hit us!" Nudge shouted loudly and and I winced. "But Fang just sat and ignored it and kept the rag on your forehead 'cause you had, like, a fever or something!"

"Mmmm." I lifted my head, ignoring the throbbing and looked around. Nudge was right. All of our supplies were strewn across the ground, all dusty from the sand. "I really should repack those." I murmured, starting to get up.

Fang held me down. "Don't move." he turned to everyone else, who were cautiously making their way back as if I was a bomb about to explode. "Repack the bags. I'll take watch for now. Nudge or Iggy, I'll wake you up later." Yes, because of his incredible sense of hearing, Iggy could keep watch.

There was a soft shuffling as everyone began to pack their bags, then quiet as they all drifted to sleep. I felt Fang begin to smooth his fingers softly on my hair. I felt... comforting.

"How are you feeling?" Fang asked quietly, more so for my sake than for the sake of the flock. Fang's voice, though soft and comforting, sounded as if it wad coming from a long ways away.

"Terrible. Better, but still terrible." I replied, feeling slightly dazed.

"Do you want me to get you some Tylenol or something? I could be back in fifteen minutes. There's a nearby drugstore."

"It's okay, that'd be a waste of money. It'll probably just wear off soon."

We sat in silence of awhile. I closed my eyes and drifted off a bit, somewhat asleep, but also somewhat alert to my surroundings. I heard my deep breathing, and felt Fang take the now warm cloth off my forehead, and put it back on again, but cool instead. I kind of zoned out again for awhile.

Later, I opened my eyes. Fang's eyes were closed, but I didn't know if he was sleeping or awake. "Fang?" I whispered.

"Yes?" He said, opening his eyes and looking down at me.

"I feel that I'm being a burden. As if I'm going to hold you back being ill like this and that whoever is out for us will catch up and kill you guys. And I feel that I really need to get us tot California soon or..." I trailed off, not sure of what to say.

He looked away for a moment, then looked back. "You're not being a burden. Besides being terrified of the freak out, they're worried about you. And no one is going to die."

I frowned.

"And it's only been a few hours since you first passed out."

"Define 'a few'."

"You first passed out six hours ago and woke up about an hour ago."

"I was out for five hours?" I shout-whispered, jumping up quickly. Immediately, I regretted it and the pain in my head made me fall to my knees.

"Shhhh. Lie down, Max. Lie down." Fang lay down, and gently pulled me over so my head was resting on his chest.

"I think I'm going crazy..." I said softly, my whisper being lost in the gently breeze.

"Shhhh."

...

...

Waking up at sunrise the next morning, I felt a ton better. My headache was only mild. Somehow, in the night, Fang's arm had wrapped around me and I woke -eughhh, I cannot believe I am actually admitting this- snuggled up to him. I noticed Nudge sitting boredly on a rock.

"Go sleep until everyone else wakes up, Sweetie." I told her taking over watching duties. The sunrise was spectacular, a sherbet rainbow spilling over the horizon.

I absentmindedly fiddled with my hair as it blew into my face with the breeze. I noticed that it was beginning to get quite long, almost mid-back. This would be difficult to handle and unpleasant during flight, so I decided to hack some off. Then and there, because all of a sudden, it seemed imperative that my extra hair was gone. I flew up, luckily not being forced to be land bound by a headache. I noticed a few stores and remembered that Fang had said that there was a nearby drugstore. I quickly found it, so I zipped back and grabbed some money. Maybe they'd have some decent scissors at the drugstore.

I walked in just moments after it opened and browsed the aisles for scissors, and grabbed the strongest looking pair I could find as well as some pain meds. The probably would be really useful in the near future.

After buying then, I flew to a pond which was between our campground and the store. I decided to use the pond as a mirror, and started snipping away. It was a difficult and long task, since my hair was dirty and thick, but I did the best I could.

Twenty minutes later, I returned with my hair hanging just below my shoulders, cut slightly uneven. Mucho to my relief, no one had woken up since I had left, so I sat back down on the rock, noticing that we were all slightly yellow from the sand.

"Nice hair." Said a voice.

"Shut up and get out of my head!" I said in an angry whisper.

"Woah." Fang said, reappearing from the spot where he was sleeping. "Touchy."

"Sorry." I mumbled, rubbing my forehead. "I thought you were someone else."

"Like what?" asked Fang. "A cactus?" He gave a small grin. I sent him A Death Glare, and his grin grew slightly more.

"Wow," I said sarcastically. "A smile from the emo king! Call the newspapers because this has to be a sign of the apocalypse!"

Fang rolled his eyes and disappeared again.

"I'm going to find some cheap breakfast. We fly out in an hour. Keep a watch out." I instructed.

I popped three of the pain pills in my mouth and swallowed the with some water before flying out to get some breakfast. Ten minutes later, I landed behind a diner. The food was cheap, so I was guessing that it was less than world-class, but when you need twice as many calories as a full grown person, you're never picky. Heck,once,at home when we were out of snacks and food because we needed to go shopping, we killed and ate fish in a nearby pond. We can be dramatic savages sometimes.

I had just gotten the three giant bags of food, when I realized that there was no way I could carry all this back or leave it. I decided that it was as good a time as ever to practice my telekinesis, or whatever. Focusing intently on one of the bags, I willed for it to float up. After a dizzying moment, it pitched upwards, nearly spilling its contents. I wrote a mental note to practice doing the mind movement, then steadied the bag. I broke my gaze, but still focused on the bag. It didn't drop, thank God. And that's how I flew, with a giant plastic bag following me three feet above my head.

It must have been a pretty odd sight, and considering the last night's events, I sort of understood why Gazzy and Nudge began to slowly back away as they saw me approach. I yelled down that it was okay, I wasn't having another spaz-out, and they stopped backing away.

"That's way cool, when it's not about to decapitate us!" Gazzy exclaimed.

...

...

"Hey, Max!" Shouted Nudge. "I have a really good idea."

"Shoot." I told her.

"Well, we're gonna have a really long day tomorrow, so we should rest up and store as much energy as we can,right?" She asked and I nodded. "Reno is only a couple hours drive from here, so why don't we get a car and drive. It will help us out a lot, and you took some drivers Ed. Plus, there's a car place in five minutes. I can see it."

To save all the boring details of me reexplaining what Nudge just said and yadyadya, let me skip ahead 20 minutes.

There we were, all standing in front of a used car dealership on the outskirts of a small Nevada town. I was a large, inconspicuous blue van, perfect for holding seven mutant children who don't have much driving experience.

"So, who's driving?" I asked, trying to be nonchalant. "Fang, do you have any driving experience?"

"No." He answered.

"I guess that Max is driving then." Angel said. "She's taken a few classes."

"Max,driving? I wouldn't call it driving." I heard Iggy snort from behind me.

"Can it, Gazzy!" Yes, I am that epic that I can tell Gazzy's mimicry. Ok, more of Gazzy made the mistake of not concealing his lip movements, but close enough, right?

Anyways, I ended up driving.

...

...

Sir cursed loudly. His newest report said that the bird children had escaped! And only a few days before he needed them captured! He sat, waiting to figure out what to do, where to search for them. It had been two days since they left, and they could be pretty much anywhere on the planet by now.

...

...

"That is so creepy!" Iggy commented as 'One Way or Another' played on the radio. "Saying :'i'm gonna find you, I'm gonna get you...'. That is so ominous, as if they're playing it for us. But I guess I'm being a little paranoid."

I was about to agree when Nudge screamed.

"Pull over!" Nudge shouted. "There's a girl at the side of the road!"

I roughly pulled over to the side of the road and Fang, Nudge and I stepped out. At the side of the road a slim red-headed girl near our age stood.

"Do you need any help?" Nudge asked.

"Yes." The girl answered, her voice sounding slightly strange. "I was hitch-hiking my way to Reno when I was dropped off here."

"Do you need a ride?" Fang offered immediately.

"Yes, thank you!" The girl chirped. The sleeve of her off-the-shoulder tee slipped down, revealing what I thought was a line and a 'N'. She threw Fang into a hug, and Fang blushed. Did I mention he had a thing for redheads? I began to get irritated, and almost as if she sensed it, the girl sent me a smug look, her eyes glowing a faint red for a short second. As she clung onto Fang, I clamored onto the roof of the van. I noticed the tips of her fingers sparking...

The next thing I knew, I had jumped off of the cars roof and side kicked her in the face. She lay on the sand, eyes closed.

"What the hell was that for?" Fang shouted, almost sounding angry. "You don't just kick a poor, random girl in the face! What is wrong with you?"

I ignored him and examined her neck. Yep, there was a 'n' tattooed on her shoulder and what looked like a seam around her shoulder, and another one down the back of her neck. I rolled her over, while Fang was still screaming at me. I hoped that I was right in my suspicions, or else I was going to have some heavy charges laid on me. I dug my finger nail into the seam down her neck and opened it a small amount. Fang stopped yelling to watch me in probable appallment. When it was opened enough, I reached my fingers in and began to work my way down the seam by tearing it. Underneath and inch of bloodless flesh was wire and metal.

"Oh, wow." Fang said.

"Neo-Humanoid." I finished.


	9. Gasp! Chapter 9 has been named!

Driving away, I managed to explain to everyone what the humanoids were, while the elephant in the room sat in the back seat. The elephant knew that they knew we were gone.

This sucked. They already knew that we were gone and our time to escape was cut in half. Which was why I floored it all the way to the outskirts of Reno. I just wanted to get to California. All of a sudden I just had an urge to either a) let them kill me then and there and get this over with. b) find out where they were and kick their asses so they would piss off forever and I could go home. c) scream. d) eat some jellybeans.

We got there in the early evening and had a calm, albeit worried and look-over-your-shoulder-every-two-seconds night. Fang had first watch again, but before I dozed off he lent me his iPod for awhile. Apparently he had a homemade solar charger that he had made last year as a science project, and he fixed it up so that it would be more powerful. I silently screamed Halleuija, because I had been craving my music. I screamed joyfully inside my head as I began to play 'Empty Walls', 'The Scar' and 'Eyes of the Zero'. I fell asleep music happy.

In the morning, I realized that we had not changed clothes or brushed our teeth or deodorized or hair brushed our hair save my new hair cut, so I decided that I would do that, even if I couldn't bathe. I brushed the knots out of my hair and tied it up in pigtails, rubbed a thick helping of deodorant all over, and brushed. I pulled on my denim mini-shorts and a black domo tank top. The heat was going to be really oppressive, so as each person woke up I told them to do the same. We were all up early because we had a longish day and left around eight thirty. If it was just me, the time getting there would've been cut in half, but I couldn't just up and ditch the flock.

Fang and Iggy managed to rustle up some good muffins and smoothies, so we left on a good stomach and in good moods. The day was nice so far, we had food in our bellies and could listen to the sky.

Those moods dampened by lunchtime. It was scorching hot, so we had to fly extremely high just to escape some of the heat. I didn't care how much it costed; the place we ate lunch at needed A/C. Our bellies were empty, which dampened our moods along with sweat and Gazzy kept making fart joke after fart joke, mixed in with blond joked, which elicited glares from Angel and I,who was somewhere between blonde and brunette. I noticed Fang wasn't seeming to be bothered by Gazzy, which was amazing, even for someone without emotions.

"Hey, Fang! What gives? How are you tuning out Gazzy?" I asked. He didn't respond. "HEY FANG!" I shouted.

He pulled out earbuds. "Yes? Why scream?"

I grinned sheepishly. Oops. "Nothing. Say, can I borrow that for two minutes?"

"I packed yours. And Iggy's too." Fang told me, handing me my iPod. I thanked him profusely, then praised the Lord in Heaven for giving me this great blessing. I tucked it safely inside my bag and cranked the volume from a panel on the earbuds. I was about to offer Iggy his iPod when I remembered that he was the one who taught Gazzy all of his jokes.

This would totally be the life-I did this all the time at home, and it rocked- but we were wait for it... On the run! I had a million questions. Was this going to be a habit for us? What did we have to do? Could we just find and defeat the honcho bad guy, who seemed to not be the brightest bulb when it came to secrecy? When could we go home? Would we ever go home? Would we survive this? Could I save the others? Why did this all feel vaguely familiar as if I did this in an alternate dimension?

'What's between you and Fang?' Added the Voice.

Okay, so the voice wasn't just a one time psychotic episode, it was a multiple time psychotic episode. Joy. And then there was what the voice had added, and I could hear the smirk. I pondered what it had said. Was there something? I didn't think- wait... Look back. There might've been... Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Og hosh. That is so not like me! Maximum Ride doesn't usually even think about even talking to a guy!

It must be the fault of the stupid evil guy and his stupid evil runs stupid... Ahaha. Did I say evil runs? Ahaha. That sounds like diarrhea. No. To continue, and his stupid evil plans and stupid making us run away and stupid stupid stupidity. I scrunched up my nose thinking about it. Whatever it was. I was all confused now. Thanks to that stupid voice.

Or Fang.

Speak of the devil, I felt a wing brush mine. I looked over and saw Fang. I noticed that whilst I was thinking, I had ended up drifting father and farther away from the flock. They were now a good fifty feet away.

"Nice face." He told me, an apparent playful smirk in his voice.

"At least I can make a face." I retorted. I knew it was kind of mean, but I hoped he'd just let it slide. I turned up my music.

"Busy thinking? I guess this all is really confusing. You probably have lots of questions." He remarked.

Boom. Right there. Blamo. Fifteen words, and he summed up my last ten minutes of deep thought.

'Puzzle peices.' Came the voice. 'They fit together perfectly, you know.'

"What-" I started, then I remembered to respond in thought. 'What the heck does that mean?' I tried to project a mild glare to the voice in my head, but I probably ended up grimacing.

"Do you have another headache or is that voice thingy not a once only occurrence?" Fang asked. There. Again! Did you pick that up? It was like he was reading my mind. I made a mental note to ask Fang if he could read minds or if he just knew me that well. I was about to respond, when the voice cut me off.

'You know what I mean, puzzle girl.' The voice said, with a daunting undertone when it called me puzzle girl.

I face-palmed. 'Are you going to be this annoying forever?' I thought-asked. 'Because if so, I'll just kill myself now.'

'Tuck your wings in and enjoy the fall.' The voice said.

I half screamed in annoyance.

...

...

", Max!" Begged Angel, Gazzy and Nudge. "Let us go swimming!"

I stood firm. "Yeah. Sure. People see winged children everyday, so they won't take pictures and it won't get on the news and the people trying to find us won't see the news and they TOTALLY WON'T try to kill us. But even if they would, swimming is so worth it isn't it?" The kids looked really dissapointed, so I relented a bit. "Why don't we walk the boardwalk today, and maybe if we find an unoccupied beach, we can swim then. Plus, we don't have any swimsuits."

The kids faces lit up a bit. "The boardwalk?" Nudge squealed. "That'll be even more fun! Plus, it's not like we can't buy swimsuits. We're by the beach in California. Plus, I know how much money you guys have."

...

...

Angel held my hand as we walked around the boardwalk and nibbled on some pink cotton candy. The sun was high in the sky and we walked around a carnival that had been set up for the summer. I felt a slight tugging at my other sleeve.

"Max, can I go on the roller coaster?" Gazzy asked. I looked over to the roller coaster in question. It was called the Sonic Boom and looked amazingly fun. It was full of twists and drops and loops. I even wanted to go on. What can I say? The flock is a group of steel-stomached roller coaster lovers.

"Yeah. That looks really fun." I said. "Let's go!" I lead the flock to the roller coaster.

"Oh, Iggy! It looks soooo fun!" Nudge gushed as we walked towards the Sonic Boom. "There's loops and drops and twists simply everywhere. You'll have so much fun. There's like five loops. Remember the time we went on the roller coaster where the train stopped upside down on the fourth consecutive loop? That was so fun except for that one guy. Remember? You heard it didn't you? We were just going down again when the guy barfed! Oh my gosh, it was so gross, wasn't it? I nearly puked. They shouldn't let people like that on roller coasters. It ruins it for everyone else. But he totally got what he had coming. I saw him in line and he ate, like, two chili dogs! The really huge ones that were a foot long and had like a whole cup each of chili and cheese?And then when he barfed it hit him on the head on the way down! It was so hilarious but so gross! I will never eat a chili dog again, not that I would have anyways. Those things are so disgusting. I mean chili is gross on it's own, but the stuff at fairs is really cheap and probably all chemicals. And chemi-" I finally slapped my hand over her mouth as we got to the entrance of the line. That had only gone on for, I don't know, five HUNDRED sentences too long. Gosh, can that girl talk.

Luckily, the carnival wasn't too crowded right now. It was a weekday, after the afternoon rush, but before the night crowd, so the lines weren't too long.

"Aww." Groaned Gazzy. "Angel is to short to ride, even though she is really tall."

Angel began to sniffle. "I wanted to go on and now I have to wait for you guys to get off all alone!" Tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"No sweetie. I know you're sad about no going on, but you don't need to wait alone. I'll stay with you and we can go get you an airbrush tattoo." I told her, feeling really disappointed that I couldn't ride the Sonic Boom. I gave her hair a little ruffle and stole a little piece of her cotton candy.

"I'll wait instead, if you really want to go on, Max." Fang offered.

"No, it's okay." I waved him off. "Go have fun. I'll meet up with you guys at the exit in fifteen minutes."

Fang gave me a sympathetic look; he could tell that I was upset that I couldn't go on the ride. I waited until they were in line before leading Angel to a small booth a short walk away.

"How may I help you today?" Asked the middle aged woman running the airbrush tattoo stand. She looked at me. "I see you've got your own tattoo, but can I get your daughter one?" My tattoo had been showing? I guess that my outfit was to blame.

Wait. Rewind.

My DAUGHTER?

I waved my hands, blushed and shook my head at the same time. "Oh no, no, no. She's my sister. I'm only sixteen and she's six!"

She smiled. "Sorry, but I thought you were older. My apologies."

Angel smiled. "Sometimes she can be just like my mommy! She looks after me and she plays with me and I love her very, very much!" She cried. I grinned. That was so sweet and cute. I was glad to have come with her. Especially to make her happy, because I loved Angel, just as I loved all of my flock. Right?

"Then why don't I give you a nice pink heart, honey?" Asked the lady. "A big heart for your big sister!"

"Yes!" Chirped Angel. "Max, can you get one too? A matching one?"

I thought about it for a second. "Ahhh... Why not? How much will two cost?" I asked the lady.

"Just for sisterly love, I'll give you one on the house. Five dollars."

Ten minutes later, we walked out, each with a temporary tattoo of a big, sickeningly hot pink, love-heart on the inside of our right forearm. Angel had wanted to get the tattoo on our cheeks, but I drew the line. I did not like love-hearts, and I certainly did not like pink, so I was not displaying it on my cheek.

"Gazzy! Nudge! Fang! Iggy! Well, not you Iggy, 'cuz you're blind, but everyone else, look!" Angel shouted giddily as they walked off the Sonic Boom. Their hair was slightly wind tousled and Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy's cheeks were ruddy from smiling and screaming. Fang had a small grin on his face, and I couldn't help it, I had smile and feel happier because of his grin.

"What is it?" Gazzy asked Angel.

Angel stuck out her arm, and pulled out my arm. "We got a pretend tattoo." Angel explained. "We got a heart because I love Max and she loves me!" Angel seemed to be just so happy about her tattoo. It was adorable.

"Aww." Smiled Nudge. "That's so cute, Ange."

"How was the roller coaster?" I asked as we began to walk around the Carnival again.

"It was really fun. Iggy said to close our eyes because it would be more fun, and he was right." Cried Gazzy.

"Yeah!" Nudge agreed. "I felt like I was floating when we dropped! I screamed so much!"

"We all did." Iggy added. "Except for Fang." I looked over and Fang, and he shrugged.

We wandered around aimlessly for awhile, stopping to let the kids play some games. They never really won, which was good, Nudge pointed out, because we had nowhere to put any prizes.

There were some really cool foreign foods their too, and some booths giving information and their origins. We made our first stop at a Korean food booth. I got some Chungcheong-do Kimchi, a variety of a traditional Korean food. I already liked Kimchi, but I learned that this was a savory kind, one of over one hundred varieties and was made savory out of salt and fermentation rather than fish. It was written 충청도. Wow, this was turning out to be really educational, wasn't it. Nudge also got Kimchi because it was one of her favorite foods. I bought Fang a kimchi too, because he had never had one before.

Iggy got a bowl of assorted sushi from the Japan booth. It all looked really yummy except for Unagi and Tako, which was Eel and Octopus. Ew. Next up was the Greek booth, where Angel got Spanakopita and Gyros. I couldn't resist stealing a bite of delicious, mouthwatering Spanakopita. The Indian food booth wafted delicious scents our way, so Gazzy pulled himself away from the Haggis he was about to order (Yeah, Gazzy has a really gross taste in food) and floated to the Indian food. Gazzy, thank God, got a little bit of Chana Masala, Tandoori chicken, naan and Basmati rice.

If I was going to be a mushy poet, I'd say that we, the flock, were like the food. A weird, mismatched combination, but all together delicious and foreign. But I'm not a poet, so I won't say that.

The sun was setting by now, and it glittered off of what I could see of the ocean. I felt a hand grab mine, and I looked down. It was Fang's. If my face was an emotiocon, it would have been this: (;/*-*/) I was blushing and tense for the first second, but I felt that I was just over reacting and this was normal, so I relaxed after a second and just enjoyed it.

Wait... Enjoyed it? That so wasn't me, but whatever. It felt warm and comforting, so whatever.

"Would any of you like a balloon dog, little Miss?" Chortled a clown that had walked up. Angel grinned and nodded.

"Can my sisters and brothers get one too?" Angel asked sweetly.

"You all can have one!" The clown began to make one for Angel. I felt Fang's hand tighten. I remembered what Fang had told me in the tattoo parlor about clowns. I looked over and saw his face. It was pale and tense, and I could tell he was quite afraid.

"It's okay! Me and my brother don't need one!" I told the clown quickly and ushered Fang over to a nearby bench. I wrapped an arm around him and rubbed his shoulder. "I get the fear of Clowns, but why so terrified?"

Fang looked at me, and I could see something going on in his dark eyes. "Bad memories."

"Want to tell me? Not that you have to..." I said.

Fang took a deep breath. "I was a foster kid and the people kept telling me that if I was a bad kid, the evil clown would come to punish me. And one day I accidentally broke a plate. I..." Fang stopped. "It took me until I was ten, four years later to realize that the clown the beat me up was the foster dad. Sounds stupid and twisted, but that's why."

I couldn't say anything for a while. "Shi-... Sorry..." I whispered. I stood up so I was in front of him. I hugged him. "Sorry for asking. I can tell you don't like talking about that."

"It's okay. He was the only one. Don't worry. The rest were pretty good, the were nice enough." he said reading my mind again. "Let's go back to them now. The clown is gone."

We walked back, and Nudge gave me a little look, but no one said anything. "Do you guys want to ride the ferris wheel and see the sunset before finding somewhere on the beach to sleep?" I asked.

"Yes!" Cried Nudge. "Oh, the ferris wheel and sleeping on the beach. This is gonna be the best afternoon slash night ever!" Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Iggy, Gazzy and Nudge sat in one car, the one below Fang, Angel and I.

It felt peaceful on the ferris wheel. I looked out at the last rays of the sun playing on the ocean, smelled the salty air and I felt the tinge of a breeze in my , the homesickness and confusion that had sunk to the pit of my stomach like a rock dissipated. If I had a remote for life I might have paused the film there. Maybe.

I wrapped my arm around Angel, and rested my head on Fangs shoulder. I guess this was a movie moment -and every movie moment has the awkward interruption, doesn't it? Here was ours.

"You know, in movies, this is where the couples kiss." Piped up Angel expectantly.

I wasn't sure how to react. In silence? Say something? I did the suave, totally chill, Max thing. Not. Instead, I managed to sputter out a pathetic, not-put together, "Uh... Um...?". The question mark was obviously there.

Fang just let out a chuckle, no doubt at my expense.

I don't know exactly what was there anymore, but whatever it was, I totally ruined it. Still feeling really uncomfortable, I pulled out my iPod and began to blast 'Under and Over It' by Five Finger Death Punch through my headphones.

...

...

I looked down proudly at the sight of Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy and Angel sleeping soundly. They were all burrowed slightly into the sand, with peaceful faces. Stepping out a few paces, the already were nearly invisible in the darkness. Yes, this was a perfect place to sleep tonight. They were under a dock/ boardwalk only a fifteen minute walk from the carnival. The place looked like a really safe place to sleep, because if you weren't aware that they were there, you would never see then until the afternoon sun creeped in.

Fang interrupted my thoughts. "I'm not really tired. Do you want to go for a walk?" He asked.

I looked over and nodded.

We made chit chat as we walked or just moved in a comfortable silence.

"So what would you be doing now if we hadn't left?" Fang asked.

My chest constricted with a bit of homesickness as I thought about my mom. "Probably eating cookies and playing guitar. Maybe about to go to bed."

"Oh yeah," Fang said. "You said you play guitar. Both electric and acoustic right? Any good?"

"Right," I responded. "and you'll have to hear me play and decide that for yourself."

"That could be arranged." Fang said, thinking for a moment.

"Do you play anything?" I asked.

"My mom used to force me to play violin until I was ten, but now, no. Maybe harmonica. I was going to take drums in my senior year."

"Iggy plays drums." I deadpanned, still pining away for home. "He's really good even for a non blind kid. Nudge plays a bit of piano and violin, too. I guess if Gazzy and Nudge took up an instrument, we be an instrumental VonTrapp family."

"Hey!" Came a young female voice. "You two!" A young girl, maybe around our age jogged up to us. She had medium length blonde hair and light green eyes. She seemed to be friendly and bubbly. "I'm Megan, call me Megs, all my friends do! We're having a party over there! Do you guys want to come?" Megan gestured a short way down the beach, where I noticed a bunch of young people laughing and drinking and even dancing a bit around a bonfire.

"Sure," Fang said. "We can go for a while."

"Are you two on the run? Do you bring any friends or whatever? Or are you guys new?"

"We're on the run. With my siblings." I blurted out, stupidly. I mentally slapped myself.

"It's okay," Megan said, noticing my expression. "I won't tell. And if any one asks I won't even say that I know a..."

"Max and Fang. She's Max, and I'm Nick, but everyone calls me Fang." Fang told her.

'You can trust them.' Said the voice.

"Hey, guys!" Shouted Megan once we reached the circle. "These are our new runaway friends, Max and Fang! Can we make some room for them?" We were greeted by friendly smiles and introductions. They all shifted down so Fang and I could sit together. Megan turned to us and pointed to four people, two girls, two guys. "Amy, Beth, Matt B. and Tyrone are runaways too. Amy and Matt are siblings, Beth is their best friend and Tyrone is also their friend and Amy's boyfriend." She explained, as if they had runaways here all the time. Maybe they did.

"Want a beer?" Asked a brunette girl -Lorry, I think,- holding up a bottle of Budweiser. She had a guitar in her lap.

I was about to say 'yes' when Fang beat me to it. "Great. My favorite. Max and I will split one, thanks." Lorry handed us a bottle from a cooler in the sand and opened it for us. Fang took a gulp, then handed it to me. I took a small, tentative sip; I had never really had alcohol before, aside from an occasional sip of wine. It was strong and strange tasting but I liked it.

"Uhm, Lorry?Can I actually have one of my own? Thanks." I said as Lorry handed my my own bottle. "Is that your guitar?"

Lorry nodded. "Want to try it?"

"That would be amazing." I told her gratefully. "I've missed mine so much."

"Max is going to play us a song!" Lorry called. "What song?"

"Oh..." I hadn't thought about the song. I racked my mind for a good acoustic song to play, since I didn't have my electric guitar. "Burning Hearts, I guess."

"I can play the second guitar for that." Offered another girl who was sitting beside a guy with a guitar. "Ben, gimme my guitar."

"Here, Sam." Ben told the girl, obviously Sam, and handed her the yellow acoustic beauty of a guitar.

Sam tossed her hair, which was lilac colored, not in a crazy way, but in a way that made you think people were born with lilac hair over her shoulder and said, "Let's play."

I nodded and began to play and sing. My voice wasn't as good as Nudge's spectacular pipes, but it was pretty decent.

"The blood is rushing to head,

This room is spinning around the bed, A flashing image perforates, Tarnishing memories of grace,A bursting fiery fortune to misshape ..." I sang. People stopped drinking and dancing and began to sit around the fire. "'...and if my body makes it out, unscathed and safe from broken valves..."

At the end of the song, the whole group stood up and applauded and cheered loudly. I played a few more songs, including one of my favorites, 'The Morticians Daughter'. An hour later, now around eleven thirty, a boy and a girl walked up to us.

"Hey, I'm Jake and this is my sister Dawn." He introduced. "Do you play electric guitar? I bet you totally shred at it." Jake added the last part after I nodded.

"Do you like metal and hard rock and such? And, like, can you play it?" Dawn asked really eagerly. I wondered why.

"It's pretty much all I play. Why?" I asked. This was beginning to become a bit strange.

"I know this sounds really last minute and weird, but can you do us a huge favor? We'd pay you and everything!" Jake said.

"You're really good, and we were wondering if you could open for a local rock/metal band. They're playing at our brother's club, but the opening band couldn't come. We need you just to play, only forty five minutes or an hour and we could pay you two hundred dollars. Please tell me you can do it." Dawn pleaded.

"My brother could help. He's blind, but is really amazing at drums. I guess we can do it." I said after a moment of thinking. "That would be awesome, because that's two hundred more dollars away from being broke."

"Great! The club is right there!" Jake told us. He pointed to the nearby dock. "It's the building with the big red sign. It's called 'Dusk'. Can you meet us there at six tomorrow, so you have time to prepare for when the set starts at eight thirty? You only need about seven songs. We'll have all the equipment there, and we can try to print out the music tomorrow."

"Yeah. We'll be there at six. Can I bring our other siblings? They have nowhere else to go?"

Dawn nodded. "You saved our life!"

Twenty minutes later, it was almost midnight, so Fang and I decided to leave. Megan told us that the was bonfire every Friday night, or Saturday if it rained on Friday. She also mentioned that her house was the big blue and white one on the rocks at the end of the beach. Apparently, we couldn't miss it, because it was the only blue and white house, and we could stop by anytime if she wasn't on the beach. Megan hugged us goodbye, and Fang and I left.

"Wow, Max," Fang mused as we walked back to where the Flock was sleeping. We were wading a bit, our Converse hanging around our necks, his black, as always, mine a dark, dark purple with hand drawn designs in black and white. "You are absolutely incredible."

"Please elaborate." I instructed, enjoying the feeling of my hand in his. It felt nice. I guess you're waiting for a Max-like thing where I say something about enjoying it being un-Max, but you won't get it. I'm not all against that, plus sometimes I need a break.

"You rock at guitar, and after an hour managed to get a better gig than most bands ever get." Fang explained. "Speaking of which,what are we going to play?" Fang turned to face me.

"I already figured that out. They're all songs that we know how to play. There's going to be five songs that Iggy and I wrote, and you can help sing them and there's going to be eight songs by bands we know. I can teach you the songs that Iggy wrote. They're in a journal in my back pack. I'll give it to you tonight. And for your sake, I'll tell you the songs. By Iggy and I, there's 'Seaweed', 'Little White Lies, Big Green Eyes', 'Symphony; My Spiders', 'Lost Between The Lines' and 'Love of My Lies, Come to Kill Me, Watch Me Die'. By the others, I figure we'll do by Pierce the Veil: 'The New National Anthem', by Paramore: 'Fences', by Every Avenenue: 'Eyes of the Zero', by Black Veil Brides: 'The Morticians Daughter', by Thousand Foot Krutch: 'Bring Me To Life', by Serj Tankian: 'Lie, Lie, Lie', by System of A Down: 'Ego Brain', Rise Against: 'Prayer of A Refugee'. You okay with that?" I asked, winded a bit by my little speech.

"Really," Fang murmured, stepping closer to me, a small grin pulling at his cheeks. "You are amazing."

I started to thank him when he placed one of his hands the side of my face with one hand. He leaned in and closed the space between us.

Yes, Fang kissed me. And it was amazingly perfect.

Damn.

**(A/N: Sorry it took so long. I have been really busy! I promise to update more. In my defense, it has been the longest chapter yet. I didn't want to have the kiss to later, but as part of my apology, FAX comers earlier. Also, I'm giving you guys a cast interview, but it's in a separate story, check it out. Finally, if you guys have any ideas on what should happen at the gig, comment or pm me; I might just use it and credit you., maybe even, with a character. Cheers, Chloe.)**


	10. AUTHORS NOTE PLEASE READ! :

**Sorry for not updating, I am really busy. I will try to update soon, but I am starting a new story, probably called 'I Hate Wonder Woman'. Its about max, a british exchange student living with Fang, iggy, nudge, angel and gazzy for nine months. Everyone loves max, except for fang who hates her. Until he loves her. And yes, its going to be a lot better than what I have just told you. Please check it out and look for a new fanfic by me in a few days. **

**Ive already decided that there may be a sequel, or a sepereate novel with a basic idea of the sequel, except some changed. I know its early, but read below… please I want your opinions on the ideas for the I hate wonder woman (IHWW) and the other story. The other story idea is below.**

**it will have the first bit based off of one of my favourite television shows, M*A*S*H* (1972-1983). In this one, Max and Fang are two new Canadian (:3) medical personnel (or something like that) in an army base (this is set slightly in the future, so obviously not all army aspects are the same as now) overseas in Kenya. They work in the army bases hospital section. For the first part, it will be more lighthearted and fun, with serious moments, kind of like in M*A*S*H*, I guess, and explains about their lives. They both come from fairly lonely lives, and build a friendship with the other personnel (including the charaters from the books, yay) who are also new, because the conflict has only just started. Fang and Max along with some of the other charaters become more than friends….(doy, but just dating). One day, Max and another one (one of the original flock probably) are sent out into active combat to retrieve patients. They are used to this, but that day is a particularily heated day of conflict and they disappear, being MIA. They are presumed dead, as there is some evidence for that. But the other members, especially Fang, know that something is up and they don't believe they are dead, so they go out to find the truth, or at least their bodies. **

**Anyways sorry that this is incoherent and un edited, but im busy and rushed….**

**Cheers,**

**Chloe.**

**(P.S, not to be a review shark {those people who won't post until they get a x number of reviews.} but reviews on a)ideas for the story b)comments on the story and c)thoughts about what is happening and what they think will happen really motivate me to write. Im not saying that to get reviews, but its true.)**


	11. I Hate Bambi Eyes, I Love Seaweed

Chapter 10 of Feather Strings

**(A/N: Sorry, I know it's really short, but I really wanted to update. I will do it again soon! Thanks for your patience. Love, Chloe)**

Our kiss was kind of long and spectacular. I relaxed my guard only seconds after I felt the warmth of his lips on mine, which was a huge achievement for the girl who had been kisses before and hated it. The kiss was forever a paradox; firm but soft, giving and taking, forever but still too short, knowing but curious. I kissed him back, and he wrapped his arms around my waist, while I placed mine on his shoulders, pulling him in as we kissed, then broke apart, kissed, then broke apart and kissed some more. I felt as if my life had been building up just for this point, and I sensed my heart speeding. It felt so... right, the way his arms fit around my waist so perfectly, the way our shoulders meshed together just right, the way I felt that everything was okay. I could totally get used to this.

Eventually we separated, and I masked my expression, which would have been dopey and star struck. I averted my eyes and began to walk, but Fang grabbed my arm.

"You don't have to hide it, Max" Fang told me, looking at me. "It's Ok not to be so tough all the time. You're not going to turn into a girly girl by pretending as if you don't feel half of the emotions on the spectrum and then trying to avoid them when you do feel them. It's okay to actually feel once in awhile. You don't have to hide behind a mask and keep yourself in a shell."

"You don't ever show your emotions." I pointed out defensively.

"Even if I have a hard time showing my feelings, that doesn't mean I deny them." Fang told me.

A bit of anger welled up inside of me, not really from what he had said about denying my emotions. No, it was because what he had said first. Did I really have a shell up? I sat down on the sand, now in front of where the flock was sleeping. That little speech of his definitely gave me a lot to think about.

"I'm going to sleep." Fang told me simply. I gave him a nod, then grabbed my notebook. Fang kissed his thumb, then placed it on my forehead before he walked off to join the sleeping flock. I touched my lips and ran my fingers through my hair, like a total girl, yuck, before beginning to write.

...

...

I woke up at dawn, because the light was hitting my eyes. Why? I had fallen asleep in the middle of the beach. Not a good idea. Luckily for me, I never needed much sleep, so I wouldn't be overly tired with only a few hours sleep. The flock was still fairly invisible, which was good. I silently crept over and gazed at their faces. Angel looked, well, Angelic. So did Gazzy and Nudge. Iggy's tattoo was visible, and it made me smile. He looked so peaceful laying there. I reached Fang. Still expressionless, but more open than usual, his face lay partly smooshed into the sand. His face was visible, but not his legs or left arm. Nudge's back also wasn't visible, where Fang's arm was. Weird.

I knew there wouldn't be much time before the flock woke up and people made way to the beach, so I dog-eared the pages in the notebook with the songs and left it for Fang in case he woke up before I returned. After, I gave me wings a well needed stretch before making a beeline to a nearby breakfast place. That was the great thing about the beach, everything was close, so I didn't need to drive. I couldn't fly because of all the people, but I could farther down the beach. And everything was so fast, too, as proven by the fact that I was back in just under fifteen minutes with a twelve pack of doughnuts and six breakfast fajitas. I quickly gobbled down the two chocolate cream doughnuts before anyone woke up to steal them, then topped off my belly with the fajita. One problem. I was now thirsty and had to pee. 'Back to the restaurant.' I thought regrettably.

When I had finished buying myself a drink and such, I noticed something in the window of a supermarket. And I had to go in and buy a lot.

When I got back, I sat as far away as I could, shoving the delicious, thin, green sheets into my mouth as fast as I possible could. In five minutes, I had managed to cram over five snack packs of it and was still going. Gosh, I love seaweed snacks. I was on my sixth and final package when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Hey, Max." Iggy yawned. "Mind handing my breakfast?"

"No problem." I said, handing him a fajita, a strawberry donut and a honey cruller. "Your favorites."

"Oh- Oh gosh, Max! Jeez, your breath reeks!" He choked. "What have you been doing? Making out with a fish with dental hygiene issues?"

I laughed at Iggy's reaction, then popped several pieces of chewing gum into my mouth after I finished the last pack."Sorry, Iggy. Seaweed breath is rancid."

"Ew!" Gazzy piped up. "You're eating the seaweed again? Nasty, nasty nori!"

I ignored Gazzy. "Iggy, do you miss your drums because I got us a gig..."

Ten minutes later, I had convinced Iggy to play and explained the songs and such. They were all some of the several dozen we could play, so it was great. We had also hired Nudge to play some violin and piano where needed.

I knew that Nudge, Angel and Gazzy were a bit disappointed with the fact that they wouldn't do much in the show, but I managed to console them with the promise of letting the dress us for the show. Big mistake. Really big mistake.

They fit our outfits for the shows theme perfectly. Fang looked the same as usual, of course, but I couldn't tell who had the difference more -Iggy or me.

Iggy, who often dressed with a decent amount of white, was decked out in a lot of black, mostly Fang's clothes, except for his jeans. Iggy looked a lot like a stereotypical emo dude... Not like Fang, but really stereotypical. Except for the strawberry blonde hair. He had on a dark grey long sleeve tee on, with a black System of A Down shirt over top -Fang's, of course. He also had a cross around his neck along with his and Gazzy's dog tags. He had his own black converse on his feet, but the icing on the cake were the pants. Iggy had on black skinny jeans. The icing on the stereotypical cake. Normally they weren't too bad, because they weren't super-skinny, more like a boot-cut/skinny jeans hybrid, but with all the black and emo-ness, it was just so... Different looking. They also tousled Iggy's hair so it looked the weeest bit messy.

I looked ridiculous, though. Frigging ridiculous. I had on one of NUDGE'S tank tops. Given, it was still a bit big for her, but it was also the slightest bit small for me. And it hugged me in a not so great way, being cut off just above my belly button. Nudge said she did it to my tattoo would show, but I think it was just so she could embarrass me. I mean, I'm glad I have a great stomach, or else I would have been in trouble, but it was quite snug in the... In the chest area, making it follow every curve, showing part of my ladybug print bra and not leaving a lot to the imagination. Not that I'd want anyone to imagine anything or even have to describe the outfit, but you get the point. It was at the far edge of borderline slutty, if you added it to the rest of the outfit. I had on a pair of black short shorts that I really liked with a black belt. On my feet were my pair of 12-eye, knee high, black Doc Marten boots. No, I am not goth, but I did bring them because I figured that they may be useful in battle or traveling in rocky terrain. They had already decided on make up too. No I did not agree to make up. A heart melted by three pairs of Bambi eyes did. I hate Bambi eyes. There was a line of expert black eyeliner thick around my heavily mascaraed eyes. The whole look made my hair, which today happened to be messy-looking waves, look slightly lighter colored, and I looked very much like a rocker chick.

Looking into a store window, I'd admit that I looked really good -hot, even. But only for someone else.

Thank god we could take it off then, and have it on after only for the show.

Fang did not look different, but for the sake of fairness and Fang Fang lovers out there, I'll describe his outfit. He had on a pair of his usual black jeans, not skinny jeans, thank God. He had on a black Three Days Grace tee, which was chosen over his other System Of A Down shirt. I think he wore that the day before he left. See?

Before we changed out of our outfits though, we somehow ended up at a swimsuit store. The beach where we stayed seemed to be really out of the way, and it didn't seem as if many people came, if any. So there were Nudge and Angel, in matching blue bikinis. Why did they even make bikinis for thirteen and eight year olds? Nudge and Angel were too young for that. And their wings were showing. They had begged me to buy them the swimsuits, and under the Bambi eyes, I had caved on one condition, which was they had to put on the swim shirts I was buying everyone if anyone who wasn't us came near. But this was going too far.

"Bloody hell, Nudge!" I shouted looking at the piece of flimsy white fabric in her hand.

"Awww. Max! It will look so cute! I mean the white will bring out your amazing tan. Which you are so lucky to have. I mean I am glad that I have my own natural tan or mocha skin tone, but it's still kind of sad not being able to have the lovely goldenness of a natural tan. Of course-" I shoved my hand over her mouth.

"No." I told her firmly, clearly making the shape of the word on my mouth. "There is no bloody way that I will try that on. Ever. I don't care that it's not pink, but it's a frigging bikini, for Pete's sake."

"Everyone has one but you, Max!" Angel pleaded. "Why are you being so difficult?"

"Fang doesn't have a swimsuit." I pointed out.

"Pshhaw." Nudge waved me off, blowing a strand of hair away from her eyes as she did. "He may not have tried on, but we know as well as you do that he'll just get that black one and the black shirt." She pointed to the swimsuit in question, which unsurprisingly, was black with a small Green and white Volcom logo in the corner.

I walked over to a different rack of swimsuits and picked out red t-shirt swimsuit, kind of surf style, kind of fashion. I also selected a pair of sporty black, red and white plaid shorts, not the almost to the knee ones, but closer to my short shorts. I held it up to Nudge and Angel, hoping that it would placate them.

Nudge didn't argue, but she still didn't look happy. "You still have to try on a bikini. But on the bright side, that vermillion will totally compliment your skin tone."

I sent her a mild glare and proceeded to snatch the first bikini I could fin and walked into a the change room. The first swimsuit was perfect, just what I was looming for, but until I tried it on, I had no idea what it looked like. Luck was on my side, as it was a plain black one, with red strings. And it wasn't super revealing, rather modest for a string bikini. I also noticed that I had another one, one that had the word "Bitch" splayed across the upper part in yellow. Nudge decided to burst in the moment I had the female dog bikini on, leaving the curtain wide open. "Nudge!" I shouted, annoyed. "What if I didn't have a top on! Do you think I want my boobs broadcast to the whole store?"

"Live with it. Your top was on anyways. And we are the only ones in the store." Nudge told me loftily. I sent her a pointed glare. "Besides the blind guy, and the ten year old busy thinking about how to make an explosion out of tanning lotion, we're all girls. Oh, and that is swimsuit is amazing on you."

"There's also Fang, and I don't care. It's awkward."

"Yeah, well, you'll probably end up dating him anyways, so it won't make any difference if he gets his tit action a little early." Nudge scoffed.

My face flamed up, and Fang reddened only the slightest bit. No one else seemed to be paying attention. Where did Nudge learn to be such a little... A little. It wasn't important. I wanted to throttle her. "Watch your mouth, Nudge, or I will throw out every pink item in your prissy little backpack and not buy you any 'cute' clothes." I warned severely.

"Fine," Nudge rolled her eyes. "Let's buy that." She gestured to the red swimsuit in my hands, then to the swimsuit on my chest.

"No." I told her, now in a bad mood. Nudge and Angel turned to face me and opened their eyes a bit bigger. Oh cra-

And that's how I walked out with a bikini, too.


	12. Concerty

**Chapter 11 of Feather Strings**

**(a/n: SORRY SORRY SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN LIKE TWO WEEKS OR SOMETHING. I JUST STARTED HIGHSCHOOL AND IT'S A REALLY BUSY PROGRAM, AND LIKE I SAID BEFORE, I CAN ONLY WORK ON IT ON WEEKENDS. SO SOMETIMES IT MAY BE TWO WEEKS. I DID NOT ABANDON YOU. Anyroads, I've gotten over 1000 hits and almost 300 hundred views from people from America to France to Singapore, so thank you guys, thank you so much. It made my day! Love you all! Thank you! Also, from the songs in the chapter that I wrote, the only one in which I'm posting the complete lyrics is Crack. All the other ones, I'm either posting the first verse and/or part of or the complete chorus.)**

**(Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Nor do I own any of the songs and their lyrics except for the 'seaweed' 'little white lies, big green eyes' 'spiders, my symphony' 'love of my lies, come to kill me watch me die' 'lost between the lines' and 'a crack' which I wrote. I know it sucks, but I wrote it a 2 a.m and I'm no song writer. I'm a writer and a poet.)**

I have to admit, I was nervous as hell. At the last minute, we wanted to change our line up of songs,we had to add songs, as the band was going to be late, prepare an encore just in case, practice and do a sound check. And on top of it all, we had to ad lib the dialogue as in 'Hello Malibu! We are...'. Ugh. So much work formal few songs.

So there I was, admiring the beautiful guitars. There were two electric guitars to chose from and one acoustic. My fingers hovered over the shiny black one, sleek like a cougar or some sleek, svelte black wild cat. I wanted that guitar so much. Such an amazing lovely darling. Sadly, I already looked to emo. And hanks to Nudge, I also had my hair parted to I had emo sidebangs. Enough black, enough emo. So I settled for the other guitar. It was less mesmerizing, but definitely a load cooler. It was black and white checkered, with part of the Union Jack in the lower right area. It was pretty sick, and made my outfit less dark, so I was less heart-broken about leaving Hans Garret Whillem Johnson the Eigth. Yes, that's what I had named him. It was more suited for the guitar I had chosen, but it was better than Fang, which was more suited for the Black Beauty.

"Hurry up and pick the damn guitar!" An impatient Iggy cried from the stage. I quickly grabbed the checkers guitar and ran from my spot backstage to the stage.

"Okay," Fang spoke up. "We need to double check the song list we're doing, espicially since we have to change the lineup. Dawn, can you write down the song names for us?" Dawn nodded eagerly, a pen ready in her hand.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, so first we will begin with an introduction of our song 'Seaweed', which I sing. After that, we'll do a short introduction, then do 'Little White Lies, Big Green Eyes', which you'll sing, Fang. 'Symphony; My Spiders', where I do back-up. Some goes for 'Lost Between The Lines' and 'Love of My Lies, Come to Kill Me, Watch Me Die'. By the others, I figure we'll do Fang singing Pierce the Veil's 'The New National Anthem'. I'll sing 'Fences', by Paramore. by Every Avenenue, Fang'll sing 'Eyes of the Zero', by Black Veil Brides: 'The Morticians Daughter', which I will do on acoustic. By Thousand Foot Krutch: 'Bring Me To Life', which Fang will sing along with Serj Tankian's 'Lie, Lie, Lie', and System of A Down's 'Ego Brain'. In that order. Do you have that Dawn?" I asked. Dawn nodded and grinned gratefully at me before I continued. "To make up for the band, we'll do Fang singing 5FDP's 'Over and Under It' and Nickelback's 'Burn it to the Ground'. Fang will have me for back up vocals for 'Prayer of the Refugee' by Rise Against and 'Left of Center' by Serj Tankian. Fang will be singing solo for SOAD's 'Chop Suey' and I'll be solo for Joan Jett's 'Bad Reputation. Is that good?"

Dawn nodded enthusiastically. "If needed for an encore, you're doing 'Young' Hollywood Undead, 'The Kids Aren't All right' by the Offspring, 'The Good Life by Three Days Grace,'WhAt You Want' by Evanescence and the other one, right?" She confirmed, being cautious not to mention the song. I nodded. "Okay, then. I'll leave you guys to practice and we'll do the sound check right before the show.

...

...

I looked around the club as people began to stream in before our opening act. The place was way cooler than expected. The place was pretty huge. On the first level, there Was shiny silver tiles on the floor. The walls were painted black, or were left paintless. In the far corner, there was a bar and a several dozen tables and chairs. In the few dozen yards in front of the stage, there was just the silver tile dance floor. The stage was elevated a good six feet above the floor and it was shaped like the beginnings of a pyramid. The second level was the coolest. There were a few rows of chairs lining the walls, with a zig zag stair case against the wall to reach them. The coolest part though, were the cages. Across the club, there were about a dozen cages hung from the ceiling and partially supported by pillars, ranging from big to small. Most had tables with a few or several chairs set up inside them, but one or two had nothing. Jake had explained that the cages were for brave patrons who had a little cash for spare. They could rent out the cages and eat there before the show, hang out there for the show, and if the cage had nothing, dance or what ever. Which was frigging cool.

Most of the people who streamed in were wearing a lot of black, but not all heavy goth, so we dressed right. Five minutes after the time we were supposed to start, Dawn and Jake's brother, Gavin, who was wearing a dusk tee shirt (which we also now had six of). I stood nervously backstage. Our rehearsal had gone well, but we had little time and I was really nervous. I stood on one side of Iggy, and Fang on the other. Things were still a tad awkward between us, only worsened by Nudge, and we had gotten into a little argument backstage. Knowing how stubborn we both are, we weren't really speaking.

"Hello, Dusk people!" He shouted into the mike. "Tonight, before the band plays, I'd like to introduce to you a new band that we acquired to open at last minute. I had the luck to listen to them, and I have had the luck to hear them practice! You guys are in for a great night! Give it up for Wings Etc.(Etcetra)!". With that, Gavin stepped away from the microphone and motioned for us to go onstage.

We stepped onstage, and Iggy was guided to the drums, Fang stood behind one microphone, while I grabbed my guitar from it's spot on the floor and made sure it was hooked up to the amp before slinging it over my shoulder and stepping up to the my mike. Fang and Iggy gave me a nod, so I began to ad lib. "Hey...! What city are we in?... I'm just joking! Hello, Malibu!" I began. There was a small wave of laughter throughout the crowd. "We're Wings Etc., and we're obviously here to play for you. I'm Maximum, yes that's my real name, but call me Max unless you want to wake up sprawled over the boarder of Timbuktu and Nowhere missing several teeth and a kidney." More laughter. "This is Fang, he's really not talkative, but you won't see that tonight. Finally, we have Iggy, who is our amazing drummer! The most amazing part? He's blind! Occasionally, you may see Iggy's and mine little sister, Nudge come up to help us with back up vocals, piano or violin. The first few songs are our own, so I hope you guys enjoy those especially. Thank you!" With that, we launched into 'Little White Lies, Big Green Eyes'. (I'll spare you excess reading, and only give you some of the lyrics to all of the songs.) Fang, for the seemingly mind reading genius he is, could seem to figure out which Red-Headed Ex and Beeyotch of his the song was about. Snicker.

And he was singing about her without knowing.

(Three Days Grace-Esque Song) "Please continue with your destruction/Make people ignore your evil for your seduction/A fatal attraction/the pain of others is your satisfaction/telling ovbious little white lies/ forgiven, forgotten for big green EYES!"

I did several wicked guitar riffs with Iggy's amazing drumming before Fang launched into the chorus.

"she grows a garden full of thorns/ and affixes them to her tounge/ it doesn't matter who you are/ or where youre from/ if you're there when she needs it/ she'll lash venom at anyone/...so you better sleep with one eye open, cuz as soon as dawn has broken- you. are. dead." Wow, Fang was a really good vocalist. At the end of the song, Fang finished and gave me a knowing glance before I launched into 'Seaweed', in which Fang didn't sing.

(Song is Paramore-Esque) "Don't let them think you're just another fish in the sea, baby baby, you're seaweed!" I sang the rest of the song, before we moved onto 'Spiders, My Symphony', where Fang and both sang together and reminded my a bit of Silverstein's 'Burning Hearts' in acoustic.

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words/ but a heart holds a million more/so she sits alone in her room, pining away/ wishing there was some one to hear what she has to say/ but theres no one there at all/ except for the spiders on her wall! / ...so she..begins to sing/ her!/ Spider symphony!"

Then we played "Love of my Lie, Come to Kill Me, Watch Me Die", which only I sang. It had the essence of evanescence. Tee hee. Anyways, it was kind of influenced their music.

"love of my lies/ come to kill me and watch me die/ Just don't forget who you are along the way/ because I don't care what they say/ I can bring you down whatever you do/ I will make you drown/ ...choking upon your lies/ a lovely demise/ the love of my lies/ lord of the flies/"

And our last song written by us, 'Lost Between the Lines' which Fang sang, but I did a lot of backup. I really liked this song, because Iggy and I had written it after seeing a show on refugees and get to present it at a school charity assembly. Nudge was also up for this one a lot for the background piano, more than some of the other songs, so it felt more like a complete band.

'barely escaped the confines, bit now he's trapped in the vines, escaped so many times, now she stuck behind enemy lines, futures entertwined in the same story, lost between the lines.'

After that, we moved onto the music of the other bands. Fang rocked 'A New National Anthem', but stood uselessly as I sang 'Fences'. I mean he didn't look useless, he went offstage and probably pigged out, but it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. Fang was less of a 'hinderance' as he sand 'Eyes of the Zero', and once again left the stage as I sang 'The Morticians Daughter' on the other guitar. That was definitely a crowd pleaser. We finished the whole set, then went on to the encore. Finishing that, Fang and Iggy left the stage, leaving the instruments, which were to be remove by the stage crew during the thirty minute intermission between the main set and us. Now was the time to decide. I looked over to where Dawn and Jake stood at the edge of the stage, and they gestured wildly with their hands to continue. I pulled up the stool that was by the acoustic, which I also grabbed.

"Uhhh... Hey, again." I said, sitting down, all my former confidence replaced with shyness. "This was a song I found. Not sure who wrote it. But it was nice, so here you go. Our -er, my- last song of the night." I picked up my guitar, acutely aware, without looking back, that Fang and Iggy were looking at me with curiosity. Even if Iggy couldn't technical look. I began the play the fist few chords.

(the morticians daughter esque, because its a ballad)[guitar only](guitar intro)

'I thought that life was as normal as could be/ and I never noticed the shell around me/ closed from the world/ but out in the open/ but now that I know/ I sing words unspoken/ CHORUS: I build these walls around myself/ and I never did realize/ but now I wonder how/ you pulled the mask away from my eyes/ you saw through my disguise/ Consoling me/ saying a crack is not the end nor is it sinning/ to look at it as a new try, a beginning/ there/ the universe turned a lighter shade of black/ all more right with one single crack./CHORUS: I build these walls around myself/ and I never did realize/ but now I wonder how/ you pulled the mask away from my eyes/ you saw through my disguise/you gazed at me with your bruised eyes/ and for a second, I think it will be alright/ but everything isn't fine/but I can try/ I can try/ I can try to take it brick by brick/ make it better bit by bit/ fight our fights/ no fight or flight/ and still arise a mile high/FINAL CHORUS:I build these walls around myself/ and I finally realize/ no longer do I wonder how/ you pulled the mask away from my eyes/ you saw through my disguise/ but came only to empty eyes... Only to empty eyes...'

The crowd was silent for a moment after finishing, before standing and clapping. Yay. A standing ovation. What does ovation even mean? Why the heck is it called an ovation?

"Thank you guys so much!" I mumbled shyly after the applause had wound down. Yeah, I know the song didn't have a hugely happy ending, but I wasn't a sucker for happy endings, unless me or a character I absolutely LOVED was involved. For example, I would be sad if I or, say, Homer Simpson, Max (from Max &Ruby) and Gazzy died, but not if Harry Potter and Edward Cullen died. Actually, I'd be kinda happy if Edward Cullen died... Anyways, I was trying to get across that sometimes, no matter how good it seems, it's so easy to become even worse than before.

Yeah, I wrote the song, but I wasn't lying when I said I didn't know who wrote it. The Max I know doesn't write that crud.

Fml.

Fml.

Fml.

And while I was back stage facepalming, Gavin went up onstage.

"That was pretty rocking, wasn't it? And Max totally shredded on the guitar, while Iggy pounded those drums! I think with all the awesomeness, I may just need a new mic, guitar and drums, because they were on fire!"

The crowd laughed.

"Ugh. I know. Lame. But Wings. Etc. was pretty awesome weren't they?"

The crowd cheered.

"Okay, since the band is running a little late, how about before the intermission, we have one last song?"

I wanted to say no, because I was still embarrassed by the last one, and my fingers were raw and bloody, but not painful, from accidentally rubbing on the strings a few times, but Gazzy, Angel and Nudge pushed me up to join Fang and Iggy, who had already gone one.

Fang looked at me and mouthed 'Lost in You',pointed to him, then me, then touched his throat. I nodded and told it to Iggy. We were going to do a duet of lost in you because from all the loud singing and occasional singing that we weren't used to, out throats hurt. I sent a mental note to Angel to get us lozenges and polysporin now so we could have it at the end of the show.

I gave a one, two, three que for Iggy, than began to play the opening riffs.

**(A/N: Stoping it here. Hurr.. The song will be epic.)**


	13. Authors note please read

Hi guys. I'm sorry it's been forever. So I have some bad news for anyone who actually likes this story. I'm thinking of deleting this story, because I really have no time and little interest in writing this. I look back, and I feel that even though my writing needs lots of work still, that the writing in this story just isn't up to par for me, and I'm not a huge fan of where it's going. I'd appreciate you guys checking out my other stories though, because I'd really like it if you guys haven't already.

I will keep this story up though, if enough people really want me to (though I doubt it) and if so, I will do my best to update this story at least sporadically for you guys.

Thanks,

…


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